The ONS reported that there were 80,058 divorces granted in England and Wales in 2022. The rates were 6.6 for women per 1,000 of the same-sex married population.
The latest statistics are yet to be reported, but I would take a guess at the percentage rate increasing. Albeit due to the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 and the introduction of a joint application, even if the woman initiates a divorce, she may suggest a joint application and so query whether the future data be skewed.
My gut feeling is that women are beginning to take the lead in ending their relationships and the latest glossy magazine headlines support this, with J.Lo being a prime example. I don’t buy the headlines that said Ben let J. Lo have this as ‘one last act of compassion.’ Is it not more plausible that a highly successful singer and businesswoman, was confident enough to take the lead on the divorce?
The decision to end a marriage is not one which is taken lightly. Couples can spend years contemplating such, soul-searching, or even attempting to make the marriage work, before the final decision is made. Whist it may be the woman communicating the end of the marriage and filing the application, I would suggest that they have spent months, perhaps years, considering such. When the decision is communicated, they have made peace with it, justified it to themselves, they’ve dealt with it emotionally. The man can perhaps then feel blind-sided, or did they just miss the signs?
Traditionally, the marriage began and ended with the man – he proposed, and he started divorce proceedings. Times are now changing, our social trends are changing, women are no longer financially dependant on men. There is life after divorce.
Did the women feel trapped? Financially dependent on the man? She would be ‘left on the shelf’. Its hard to believe in this modern world that women once felt like that.
Women are now much more likely to be in an economically stable position going into the marriage than they once were. The traditional role of the women being the ‘homemaker’ is now becoming less relevant. We know from White that there can be no discrimination between monetary and non-monetary contributions and no bias in favour of the breadwinner at the expense of the homemaker. This decision was some 24 years ago, but it has paved the way for woman to know they will be treated as equal on the ending of the marriage.
Many women have successful careers of their own, establishing such before or during starting a family. They have wealth of their own and are not reliant on their husbands. I’m not suggesting that women are cynical and ‘self-preserve’ as they see divorce as an inevitable should they marry, its more that women now have the platform and opportunities to be independent and not financially dependent on their husbands. There are many happy marriages, with income and assets mingled, the entire pot is matrimonialised and divorce could never be foreseen and hopefully, won’t happen.
As couples are marrying later in life, by which time they have acquired their own assets, may have already inherited, or perhaps are marrying for the second time and so wish to protect their pre-acquired wealth from their divorce settlements, pre-nuptial agreements are becoming more common. The Marriage Foundation report that one in five weddings now start with a prenup. It would be interesting to know how many women initiate the conversation with their fiancés, as opposed to the man.
I’m not suggesting the stats are indicating a new modern ‘trend’ of women initiating divorce. There is nothing ‘trendy’ about the heartbreaking end of a relationship, a family unit, and all that it entails. I would suggest instead that the stats evidence the shift in our social trends and women have agency.
