‘CHILD BRIDE’ PROBLEM IN TURKEY

Abstract

‘Child Brides’ are described as girls who are forced to get married before they are 18 year old. The issue of child brides is a concern for undeveloped and developing countries as well as Turkey. This work aims to explore the prevalence, problems and causes related to the problem of ‘child brides’ as well as offering solutions for this problem. The literature shows that ‘child bride’ is quite widespread practice in Turkey. Moreover, forced marriage at an early age is problematic in many ways. In addition, there are some factors which contribute the problem including legal gaps, education level of the family and the daughter, economical conditions, stereotypes, traditional practices and sexism level. Finally, it is suggested that the reasons for the problem of ‘child brides’ are multi-dimensional and therefore it requires a similar approach.