Reasons for Sharp Rise in Divorce Rate

Marriage is essential not only for a person’s inner peace and emotional fulfilment by having a lifelong partner but it is also important from the point of view of children’s healthy upbringing. The relationship brings comfort to the life of both husband as well as wife. After marriage, the wife can take charge of household work and children’s upbringing without worrying about finances and wealth, which are generally in the husband’s domain of responsibility.

Over the last thousands of years, marriage has been taken and accepted as a lifelong arrangement by everyone. People never thought of permanently breaking the marital relationship regardless of how unhappy or dissatisfied they were in it. However, for the last one century, there has been a sharp rise in divorce rate, with more and more married partners opting for separation.

Divorce is serious business. It is the official, legal, emotional and social termination of married relationship. After this break-up, the husband and wife are free to live separately and independently of each other and enter into new romantic relationships. The divorce rate has become particularly high in Western countries. For example, in the US, almost 60 percent of all new marriages end up in divorce over the years. This type of situation is not considered healthy for any society or country as it has long-term implications for the society as a whole.

There are many factors which are responsible for the rise in divorce rate since the Second World War. Some of the prominent ones are as follows:

Women’s Liberation

In the last century or so, women’s literacy rate has increased tremendously. This has enabled them to pursue careers and have a nice paying job which, in turn, has helped in boosting their self-confidence and financial empowerment. Today’s women are quite career-conscious and able to take care of all their needs and wants without being dependent on anyone.

They are also fully aware of their rights and not willing to suffer in case of a bad marriage. They feel capable enough to take care of themselves, maintain a nice lifestyle and bring up their children without relying on their husbands for finances. This has helped women to file for divorce if they find that their marriage is not going well and they are trapped in a claustrophobic relationship.

Individualistic Attitude

Marriage is a remarkable institution which unites a man and a woman in a very strong emotional bond. For a marital relationship to be successful, it requires a lot of hard work and dedication from both the partners in the form of love, sacrifice, mutual respect, tolerance, empathy, taking care of each other’s needs and patience.

Nowadays, people have become very individualistic. They do not have time for anyone else except themselves. All the time they are worrying about their career, their needs, their aspirations and their likes and dislikes without paying much attention to the needs of their spouse. In this type of scenario, marriage cannot continue for long and divorce becomes inevitable.

Liberal Divorce Laws and Social Acceptability

In today’s society, divorce has become socially acceptable. People no longer look down upon a divorced person and it is quite common to find divorced people remarrying. Society has accepted the argument that instead of suffering in a bad marriage, it is much better to divorce and move on with one’s life. People today are more in search of a life partner who will make their lives happy and comfortable, and not miserable or a burden. People are always looking for the correct match, and it is usual to find them marrying two or even three times in the course of their lifetime.

Liberal and easy divorce laws have further encouraged unhappy partners to file for martial separation. Divorce legislation in different countries has kept pace with the changing social trends. Now, it is easy to get a divorce within three or four months if both the partners are willing.

Extra-marital Relationships

People in the modern individualist world no longer are interested in committing themselves to a single life-long relationship. This is because there has been a change in moral and social values and outlook. Parents who themselves are divorced are unable to set a good example to their children.

Also, quite a few people today do not see anything wrong in having extra-marital affairs. If they are attracted to someone, they do not want to hold themselves back. Instead, they want to enjoy their newfound love. This weakens the sanctity and foundation of trust on which a marriage is built. Such a situation sooner or later results in divorce.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you want to find out more about a solicitor managed divorce see http://www.managed-divorce.co.uk