Remarriage of Elderly Widows: A Qualitative Study of Elderly’s Understanding and Interpretation of Remarriage in the City of Sahgez

This article concerns with elderly remarriage. Its aim is to understand the viewpoint of widowed and remarried elderly about remarriage using an interpretative approach. This study has been conducted in the city of Saghez in Iranian Kurdistan. It applies a qualitative ethnographic approach. Using purposive sampling, 20 elderly women and men (widow/remarried) were selected and interviewed in depth. The interview texts were analyzed based on the conventional qualitative content analysis method. The findings suggest that there is a "dual gendered attitude" among the elderly women and men toward remarriage. Both "remaining widow" and "remarrying" later in life occur willingly and unwillingly. In some cases, they "have to" remain widow and in other cases marry again. Elderly remarriage in this city encounters different social and economic obstacles. However, the findings show that there are "forerunners" in elderly remarriage. Challenged with numerous family and social norms, this demand tries to open a room for elderly remarriage in the public sphere. The findings of this study can be adopted to formulate micro- and macro-level policies for elderly population.