Researchers have found that women are more likely to divorce their husbands because of gender equality.
The research was led by Michael Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University.
69% of divorces in the study were initiated by women, often becoming fed up of having to do more housework and childcare than their spouses.
In the ‘How Couples Meet and Stay Together’ study, 2262 heterosexual adults aged 19-64 said they were in a relationship in 2009. By this year, 371 said they had split with their partner or were divorced.
According to the study, the initiation of relationship breakdown was equal in non-married couples.
Professor Rosenfeld commented that this could be due to gender expectations on marriage, such as the woman feeling pressured to take the man’s surname and the man expecting the wife to carry out most of the household and childcare roles.
He also comments that perhaps these expectations are not forced onto non-married couples, with relationships being more flexible and more adaptable to modern expectations, particular from women’s perspectives.
Mary-Anne Beedle, specialist family lawyer at Swain & Co Solicitors, says, “It is important that people understand why relationships might not and do not work out, but it doesn’t make the process of ending a relationship or a marriage any easier.”
“What is needed at such a raw emotional time is support and understanding of the process to end their relationship and marriage, amongst all the emotional trauma that the couple, and possibly their family, are experiencing.”
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