Hearing the silences: Adult Nigerian women's accounts of 'early marriages'

Article


Callaghan, J. E., Gambo, Y. and Fellin, L. 2015. Hearing the silences: Adult Nigerian women's accounts of 'early marriages'. Feminism & Psychology. 25 (4), pp. 506-527.
AuthorsCallaghan, J. E., Gambo, Y. and Fellin, L.
Abstract

‘Early marriage’ is a relatively common but under-researched global phenomenon, associated with poor physical and mental health and educational and occupational outcomes, particularly for young girls. In this article, we draw on qualitative interviews with six Nigerian women from Sokoto state, who were married between the ages of 8 and 15. The interviews explored young women’s experiences of the transition to marriage, being married, pregnancy and their understanding of the marital and parental role. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, we explore women’s constrained articulations of their experiences of early marriage, as they are constituted within a social context where the identity of ‘woman’ is bound up in values and practices around marriage and motherhood. We explore the complexity of ‘hearing’ women’s experiences when their identities are bound up in culturally overdetermined ideas of femininity that function explicitly to silence and constrain the spaces in which women can speak.

JournalFeminism & Psychology
Journal citation25 (4), pp. 506-527
ISSN1461-7161
0959-3535
Year2015
PublisherSAGE Publications
Accepted author manuscript
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353515590691
Publication dates
Online23 Jul 2015
Publication process dates
Deposited06 Jan 2016
Copyright informationCallaghan, J. E. and Gambo, Y. and Fellin, Lisa (2015) ‘Hearing the silences: Adult Nigerian women's accounts of 'early marriages'’, Feminism & Psychology, 25(4), pp. 506-527. © 2015 The authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.
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