Abstract
This chapter presents the narratives of five divorcees of Pakistani origin living in Denmark. They came to Denmark in the 1970s and 1980s at 18 to 20 years old. The narrations begin with marriage and proceed to divorce, including reflections as a single mother/woman after divorce, the process of sharing the lives of children as they grew up, the issue of remarriage, and finally, their constructions of mélange familism. The women narrators represent a variety of lifestyles and socio-economic positions. All were from relational collectivist middle-class extended families, where women depended more on their fathers, husbands, sons and brothers.
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Notes
- 1.
In polygamous marriage arrangements, women are subservient to men but equal to one another.
- 2.
An underlying issue and its link to religious norms may exist for the personal understanding and interpretation of rituals. There is a difference of opinion among Islamic schools about the power and role of a daughter’s marriage guardian (wali) during a wedding ritual. The point is understanding the difference between formal shariah and perceived norms and customs.
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Mehdi, R. (2023). Creators of Independent Lives: Danish-Pakistani Divorcees. In: Understanding Gender and Diversity in Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40893-9_5
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