Reasons for Increasing Divorce Rates in Western Countries (Essay Sample)

Reasons for Increasing Divorce Rates in Western Countries
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Reasons for Increasing Divorce Rates in Western Countries
Divorce can be defined as a legal dissolution of marriage (Heeramun, 2006). It will be worthwhile to note that in contrast to divorce, separation is a temporary break in a marriage which may or may not lead to a divorce (Emery, 2013). Divorce cases have over the years continued to increase exponentially across the world with the Western countries contributing a huge chunk of these cases. I will thus be examining he reasons why Western countries experience high divorce rates as compared with other countries.
Foremost, many a scholar has attributed the alarming divorce rates in the Western countries to their people’s cultural practices and beliefs. The Western culture of ‘women empowerment’, equal opportunities for both male and female genders, ‘absence’ of extended families and an easing of divorce laws, have all helped fuel divorce suits in Western Countries’ Independent Judicial Systems (Nair, 2015).
Infidelity is yet another reason for the high rates of divorces in Western countries. In 2004, a UK-Based firm conducted a survey which established that of all British divorce cases filed, in 25% of the cases, men were found to have engaged in extra-marital affairs and women in 25% of those cases (Heeramun, 2006). The survey further established that close to a whopping 70% of divorced couples in the United Kingdom terminated their marriages thanks to infidelity.
Another key reason has to do with economic factors. The heavily industrialized Western Countries are job havens for millions of married couples who are consequently separated and thus hardly in touch with each other. Communication breakdown resulting from continuous absence from home (courtesy of urbanization) and the fact that Western women are no longer mere ‘housewives’, has further increased the chances of divorce suits (Heeramun, 2006).
More so, the libertarianism sentiments echoed in such countries’ legal frameworks tend to promote immorality which in turn gives people good excuses of hoping from one relationship to the other. Most Western countries have smoother legal systems when it comes to divorce (Balaji, 2012). This means processing a divorce is less strenuous and thus an easy means for distraught or unhappy partners for ending their marriages. Other reasons include domestic violence (Heeramun, 2006), religious differences (Balaji, 2012) and democratic factors (Ambert, 2009). Babies can be another major factor. In the East, most people want babies unlike in the West where opinions can be as varied and oceans apart (Balaji, 2012).
As much as divorce rates continue shooting up in the West, the resolve of Western countries’ people to salvage the institution of marriage has been commendable over the years. People are encouraged to shun divorce via the readily available marriage counselling sessions and instead learn accommodating each other’s’ differences. Whether such alternatives will work, only time will tell.

References
Ambert, Anne-Marie. (2009). Divorce: Facts and Consequences.
Lethbridge, Alberta: Project Canada Books. Accessed on 24/08/2015 from  HYPERLINK "/doc/doc-0073-es.pdf" http://w...