Abstract:

The aim of this study was to question the connection between elopement of women and their participation in decision-making process within their stem families, sexist division of labor within the family, their gender roles, development of their duration of education and their coping strategies for the problems, their parental attitudes and sociocultural codes, and to examine their elopement phase and subsequent life experiences with a feminist approach perspective. In the study, a qualitative research method was used with a feminist perspective. Sample of the study included 24 eloped women who were living in Duzce and chosen by snowball sampling method. In-depth interview and observation techniques were used in the study. Data which were obtained from the interviews were assessed by splitting into themes and codes by MAXQDA10 program. According to this study, patriarchal family dynamics in the stem families of women, authoritarian parental attitudes, prohibition of dating or sexuality before marriage, absence of their right to speak during decision-taking process within the family, deprivation of them from education and their gender roles form a basis for their elopement. It was also observed that elopement was preferred for some of its economic and social gains for the spouses of eloped women and the families of their spouses; however, marriage types of eloped women affected them in a negative way during their marriage and rest of their lives, they felt guilt and regret due to their preference of elopement and they experienced disadvantages due to the reflections of verbal and psychological violence to themselves within their relationship with their spouses and their families. Future research on the subject may examine the root family relationships of eloped women.

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