According to every viable source on the planet, women do in fact initiate divorce more than men. For a married couple with children, women initiate divorce two thirds of the time. With or without children, the number still hovers around the 68.9 percent. That was fairly exact, right? Exact and intentional.
I could cut and paste two hundred more hyperlinks to articles that cite statistics and reasons for the initiation. But we here at DivorcedMoms are nothing if not efficient and customer service oriented. Thus we’re brining the top 5 reasons to you!
Reason 1: Men behaving badly. In the criminal infidelity system, the marriages are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The men who commit the crime and the distraught wives who discharge the marriage.
Has anyone else watched ‘Law & Order’ way too many times? Yay, me too. By the way, I love that women are developing a zero tolerance policy to cheating. Interestingly enough, there have been recent studies that suggest men are more tolerant of infidelity than women.
Reason 2: Boredom. Women very often need more than their man can provide, especially when it comes to intellectual and emotional intimacy and a sense of adventure and surprise. There is a line in the film ‘Love Actually’ wherein Emma Thompson’s character says to Alan Rickman’s character, “don’t worry, my expectations are not that high after 13 years of Mr. “oh but you always love scarves.”
What she felt in that moment represents a microcosm of what a lot of women feel when the marriage has moved beyond the honeymoon phase. Eventually, women will tire of prodding their husbands to be more spontaneous and intimate.
Reason 3: (The idea of) someone else. There are countless studies that indicate cheating women are on the rise. It’s interesting. But what I find more interesting is the reason behind the increase. Women cheat when their needs are not being met and there are financial and familial reasons for keeping the marriage intact. Some cheat with the desire to be caught as a means of getting their emotionally absent husbands attention. In addition to this hotbed of information, it is estimated that 30% of wives who have not cheated, have had a strong desire to do so.
Whether a wife had someone else or the strong idea and desire of someone else, divorce will be something that they eventually initiate.