The status of divorced women: Example of Elazığ

Family is officially created with the bond of marriage and it ends with divorce. Socially, the continuity of family is important in terms of the continuity of generations and socialization of children. Divorce may cause various problems for couples, their children and families. Numerous studies have shown that women faced more problems after divorce in terms of their socio-cultural position. The importance of the experiences of women after divorce and the lack of comprehensive studies in the literature regarding this subject makes it necessary to investigate women's situation after divorce. The purpose of this study is to reveal women's situation after divorce. To this end, in order to see the problems experienced by women through women's eyes and to provide solutions with this perspective, women's demographic characteristics, the marriage process, marriage life, family support, divorce experience in family and events occurred during the divorce process were examined. 114 women were selected from 2175 women living in Elazig city center who officially divorced (did not remarry ) between 2003-2014 years. Findings of the study were formed according to purposes, sub-purposes and goals, and evaluated in six stages. These phases contained divorced women's socio-demographic characteristics, findings related to family origins, findings related to marriage, findings related to marriage process and relations and interaction between families, findings related to divorce and findings related to period after divorce. In addition, women's educational level, age, type and duration of marriage, income level, support of family during and after the divorce process, domestic violence situation, divorce causes, events occurred during divorce, coping strategies, factors preventing divorce, idea of re-marrying and events occurred after divorce were included in the findings section of the study. As a result of our study, it has been observed that divorced women have a lower educational level and even though they work before and during marriage, they have a greater participation in working life after the divorce. On the other hand, it has been concluded that majority of divorced women go through "child marriages", their families are significantly dominant over their decision of marriage and most of them have arranged marriages. Besides, according to the findings regarding divorce, it has been determined that the conflict symptoms regarding the marriage of divorced women start at the very beginning and women decide to divorce and go to law themselves. On the other hand, another important finding is the difference between the actual and official reasons for women to divorce. Because women whose official reason to divorce is "irreconcilable differences" actually divorce due to infidelity. According to the findings regarding the condition of women after the divorce, the most important problem being experienced by women is the economic problem, whereas the problem they experience "as a woman" is the gossip of the environment. On the other hand, the divorced women generally perceive the environmental attitude regarding their divorce as a means of "social pressure and gossip". Keywords: Continuity of Family, Marriage, Women and Divorce