An exploratory study: divorced women in the case of Turkey

Tuğba Adalı, Hacettepe University

Despite its neighbouring European countries, Turkey is a country where family maintains its importance and marriage is universal. According to Turkey Demographic and Health Surveys 1993, 1998 and 2003, over 95% of women in reproductive age groups are married at survey date. Interestingly, the percentage of divorced women has risen from 1.17 to 1.94 within this decade according to these surveys. This study aims to find out who these women are, and compare some selected characteristics of them to married women such as education, occupation, fertility and certain attitudes towards family life to see whether they differ, by using data from the latest survey in 2003. Preliminary results show that divorced women are likely to be more urban, more educated, more integrated into the labor force, and perhaps more importantly, have less traditional attitudes about family and women.