Consequences of Divorce A Systematic Review of Current Literature with an Emphasis on Gender-Related Issues (1997-2011)

Consequences of divorce, specially the negative ones, affect different sectors of society generally and become specifically important in gender development analysis and social policy, because of their especial influence on women’s lives. This article reviews the previous studies and published literature on after-effects of divorce in Iran in a period between 1997 and 2011. Based on an initial search, 197 texts were gathered and after preliminary evaluation and screening, the content of 23 of them were extracted and analyzed. Finally the analysis was organized and evaluated in the following levels: 1- general features, 2- aims and queries of the research, 3- methodology of the research, 4- types of variables and 5- findings as well as outcomes of the research.Findings of this study show that in general, divorce not only damages human and economic resources, but a gender-sensitive analysis also shows that it could be an obstacle in women’s participation in development and finally leads to their marginalization and exploitation. This study also demonstrates that female researchers pay more attention to psychological and economic impacts of divorce rather than social problems and drug addiction.