The USA is said to have the highest divorce rate in the world with Scandinavian countries sometimes edging in and taking over the lead. It seems that a high divorce rate is linked with countries enjoying a high standard of living. The word ‘divorce’ is linked to the word ‘marriage’. One cannot be understood without knowing about the other. The institution of marriage is something unique to human society. Broadly speaking in all human societies it comprises of a vow taken before God and society by the bride and groom during a wedding ceremony to remain married till death. Some many animals and birds pair for life but they never marry in the sense of the humans’ pair. When this promise is broken divorce takes place – the laws differing from one society to another (Lamb 276).
In the primal stage when mankind foraged and hunted – did not have any fixed abode but followed the movement of the fish in the rivers and the herds in the forests it was the female who guided the tribe about the best hunting places. Since the human infant takes the longest period to mature as compared to animals the females clubbed together and there was no commitment of marriage with the male. Thus the there was no botheration about the paternity of the child. It belonged to the tribe and all the women cared for it.
But when farming and taming of herds started property came into existence the male began to play a bigger role. The question now arose of handing down the property and hence the issue of paternity arose. This led to the institution of marriage isolating the female so that paternity was guaranteed. So in a way marriage meant guaranteeing the paternity of the child by keeping the woman in bondage (Griffin 35-46).
With society having come a long way from those days once more in cyclical order marriage is becoming redundant with emergence of female power. This emergence started with the invention of the pistol that made her equal in physical prowess to the male. Another factor stepped in until today she is emancipated economically and socially. The more a society is developed the more marriages are breaking up and the single mother is becoming quite common. Hence USA is the perfect ground for having the highest number of divorces. American children are reared in households having revolving parents, step-parents and even live-in partners who enter and exit from their lives.
From the ‘60s there has been a great change in American families. Today the vast majority of married women are working outside their homes. In 1950 it was only 16% (Arbuthnot 213). The divorce numbers have doubled since 1966 and trebled since 1950. Out of ten, three children are born outside the marriage knot. Of all the kids, a quarter now resides with one parent. More women are remaining unmarried without any issue.
These figures have led to contradictory reactions – alarm and fear on one side but freedom accompanied by happiness for others. Divorces are now being held responsible for increases in societal abuses like drug addiction, felony, sexual offenses and failure in studies. Divorce numbers began to increase from the early 19th century. Divorce became an escape from abusive partnerships. In 1867 there were 10,000 divorces in America with a rate of hundreds of 3:1. In 1880 it became 4:5 and in 1890 it was 5.9 (Arbuthnot 211).
The Afro-Americans faced the maximum threat to their marriages. They clung on to the institution more tenaciously than their White masters who did not think them to be human enough to abide by marriage rules.
The period following the War in the latter part of the ’40s and ’50s saw a sharp reaction from the years of depression. The seeds were planted for a radical change in society. The post-war period saw a phenomenal rise in the prosperity of America. It began to burst with prosperity and this began to tell on family life. Divorces increased (Zimmerman 118).
So there is no doubt that divorce is increasing. Now the question is whether it should cause worry or should it be taken with a shrug as one of the inevitable changes.
History has repeatedly shown that the rise of empires has been linked with prosperity and sexual laxity where changing partners become a game. This then may be taken as a symptom of decay because the children of broken homes are without anchor and tend to roam without contributing positively to the future of the nation. The rudderless future generation eats into the entrails of society.
What does Mother Nature say? We have to read her each in our way. When penicillin was discovered in the post-war period and the fear of STD diseases took a back seat. Chastity came to be scoffed at and marriages started to become a joke. But Nature has hit back again with AIDS as if reminding human society that she has a different code for us. The latest news is that divorce numbers are going down in America because of the lesser number of marriages!
Works Cited
Arbuthnot, Jack. Effects of divorce education on mediation process and outcome. Boston: Mediation Quarterly 15.3, (2008): 199-213.
Griffin, Christine. Divorce mediation: the impact of mediation on the psychological well-being of children and parents. New York: Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 9.1, (2008): 35-46.
Lamb, David. Beyond Culture and Concepts. Wellington: IPCL Press, 2007.
Zimmerman, Charles. Marriage or Truce? Auckland: DG Publication, 2004.