Marriage is a very fulfilling arrangement between two people of opposite sex. They are supposed to live in the same home together and emotionally and financially bond with each other. When the marriage succeeds, life seems like heaven to both the partners. Conversely, when the marriage fails, life quickly becomes hell. There are frequent quarrels and shouting matches in the house that spoil the domestic atmosphere. The members, both children and adults, live a life of stress and anxiety. Many partners do not wish to continue anymore with the relationship and file for divorce.



Divorce for thousands of years was frowned upon in all societies. It was considered a sin against God and social conscience. People who separated after marriage created a scandal that was talked about for years. Things have come a long way since. After the Second World War, a tectonic shift has happened in the society. The institution of marriage has undergone a fundamental change.

Today, the marital relationship is no longer considered sacrosanct or etched in stone. Divorce has become routine and widely accepted. In some countries, it is touching an astronomical figure of over 50 percent. There are many reasons why this state of affairs has been reached.

Liberation of Women

In the last half a century or so, the lifestyle of women and their status in society has undergone a radical transformation. They today have the same educational and employment opportunities available to them as men. As a result, women can do jobs and earn the same as them. This financial empowerment has done wonders for their independence and today they can walk out of a marriage with their kids and set up a house of their own without needing the help of anyone.

Rise of Individualism

Today's society is built around certain inalienable rights of an individual. Time was when the individual was considered merely as a cog in the social machine and everybody had to kowtow to the strict norms of the society. If the society frowned upon divorce, you were supposed to stay married no matter how unhappy you were. Not any more.

Today, the rights and aspirations of an individual have become more important than the social consensus about appropriate behaviour. If people are not personally happy with their marriage, they break the relationship without bothering about what other people may think.

Relaxed Divorce Laws

The legislatures have kept pace with the changing social mores. Over the last three or four decades, divorce laws, which earlier made legal separation almost impossible, have relaxed a great deal. Today, if both the partners are willing to dissolve the marriage amicably, they can get a divorce in a matter of a few months, no questions asked! There are many companies that specialise in offering Do It Yourself divorces to couples over the Internet very cheaply and quickly.

Easy Remarriage

The sky-rocketing divorce rate has ensured that today there are millions of divorced people in any country of the world. Also, there is not much social stigma attached to divorce. Due to this, and the liberal attitudes prevailing in the society, it is very easy for any divorced individual to get remarried.

There are many divorce support groups that also double up as a dating agency for divorcees. There are hundreds of thousands of people who got divorced and then happily married again. It is common to see people today marrying and remarrying two or three or even more times in their lives.

Social Acceptability

Long ago, divorce was considered a curse to befall any individual. Such people were stigmatised and considered to be somewhat abnormal. It was assumed that they must be having something lacking in their personality, otherwise they would have been able to make their marriage a success. Now, social norms and threshold of acceptance have changed drastically. Divorce is today considered normal and hardly raises an eyebrow.

Modern Lifestyle

The pressures of modern living have contributed in a significant way to increasing the divorce rate to unheard of levels. People are today very busy earning money in their jobs and there is a lack of effective communication between marital partners. There is a lot of work-related stress and everybody is hard-pressed for time and living on a short fuse. It is easy for married people to emotionally drift away from each other over some years which eventually lead to divorce.