Divorce from Arranged Marriages: An Exploration of Lived Experiences

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Divorce and Remarriage

Publication Date

5-18-2016

Abstract

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. ABSTRACT: Divorce in virtually every culture is a private affair and thus not easily discussed in public. In the Arabian Gulf, because of the shame associated with deep religious, traditional, and gendered views of marriage, divorce is extremely secretive and has therefore been rarely studied. This article explores the lived experiences of 21 Arab Muslims from the United Arab Emirates who were in traditional arranged marriages and have divorced. Ten Emirati women and 11 Emirati men were interviewed using phenomenology to guide an inductive exploration. Nine themes emerged from the interviews. Five were shared across genders and 2 themes were specific to 1 gender. The first 4 might be called universal themes as they show up consistently in literature from both the East and the West. The rest appear to be more culturally specific.

ISSN

1050-2556

Publisher

Routledge

Volume

57

Issue

4

First Page

280

Last Page

297

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Arabs, divorce, Gulf nations, phenomenology, polygamy, polygyny, traditional marriage, United Arab Emirates

Scopus ID

84974792579

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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