THE MARRIAGE GROUNDS OF WOMEN and MEN WHO PRACTISED EARLY MARRIAGES IN SAMSUN WITH A FOCUS OF GENDER EQUALITY and CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Being common all over the world and referring to the marriages happen under the age of 18, early marriages have been one of the social problems. This study aims at setting forth the marriage grounds of women and men who practiced early marriages from the perspective of gender equality and child development. Within this context, 10 women and 10 men from İlkadım and Atakum districts of Samsun province were chosen. Semi-structured interview forms were prepared in order to make in-depth interviews with these 20 participants. The descriptive findings gained from face-to-face and online interviews demonstrate that the marriage of women earlier than men, the marriage of woman to an older man, the marriage styles and educational backgrounds of women and men are all influenced by gender inequality. The grounded knowledge got from the data indicate that the cause which lie behind the early marriages of both women and men and which has negative effects on child development is gender inequality.