A significant human rights violation child marriages: Analyzing opinions, attitudes and experiences of men

Child marriages are the appearance of the given value particularly to girls in the community, and the violation of the right to have an honourable human life. The objective of this research is analysing the knowledge, attitudes and opinions of men from different socio-economic status on child marriages and examining the role of gender norms which are sustaining the practice of child marriage. This study is a cross-sectional field study. The sample design of the research is a multi-stage, stratified cluster sampling that complies with probability sampling methods. Konak district of İzmir province was divided into three stratum as lower, middle and upper socio-economic levels and each stratum was divided into 100 clusters. 30 clusters were randomly selected from 100 clusters. In each cluster, 7 individuals in the 20-69 age group, and 612 out of 630 people were reached. The data collection process was carried out via household visits conducted face-to-face interviews with a questionnaire. Chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal Wallis test and Mann-Withney U test were applied in order to determine if there is a significant differences between groups. The findings of this study indicate that socio-economic status differentiate opinions of men on child marriages. 80.5% of the individuals in the Lower SEK, 86.8% of individuals in the Middle SEK, 94.4% of individuals in the Upper SEK believe that couples have the right in making decision about their marriages. Regarding opinions related mean age at first marriage for females, the most frequent age mentioned is the 21-25 years of age in Lower (%52,6)and Middle SEK (%45,1) and 26-30 years of age in the Upper SEK (%51,3). As the socio-economic status increases, opinions associated age at first childbearing refers to higher ages (Lower SEK 21-25 years of age: %50,5; Middle SEK 26-20 years of age: %51,5; Upper SEK 26-30 years of age: %60,9). The rate of individuals who have knowledge about the legal age of marriage in the Lower SEK (21.5%) is twice the Upper SEK (21.5%). While 9 out of 10 individuals believe that the law should set a minimum age for marriage in the Upper SEK, the rate is lower in the Lower SEK (%79,4). As socio-economic status increases (Lower SEK: 24.22 ± 2.58; Upper SEK: 26.56 ± 1.29), individuals have more egalitarian attitudes and beliefs. According to the research, the risk of early marriages decreases while the socio-economic status increases. There is a need taking precautions for socio-economic development, and policies, implementations targeting equitable gender norms.