Men/women relationships in Iran are defined according to religious and customary norms and any relationship between a couple except in form of permanent/temporary marriage is considered a crime and illicit. Changes that recently occurred in Iranian society due to difficult economic conditions like inflation and unemployment in one hand and modernity and value-normative changes, on the other, have caused young people to select cohabitation without marriage (or ‘white marriage’) as a reasonable solution to fulfil their personal and social needs without being committed or responsible like in official marriage. This phenomenon is more common among educated and academic young people who have migrated to capital cities for employment and educational purposes. Due to religious and cultural sensitivity of this issue, authorities have not studied this social phenomenon precisely. After studying social and legal principles of ‘white marriage’, the present study scrutinised its effective factors and outcomes for the first time. Ultimately, some solutions were suggested with are hoped to be helpful in reducing negative consequences of this social phenomenon and also raising public awareness.
This book, like other recent research from Kameel Ahmady, all linked by common themes, continues to develop previous research on the topics of temporary marriage. For the first time in Iran it will reveal the hidden and wide-angle aspects of this phenomenon at macro level, with an emphasis on the Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan metropolitan areas.
