Over the past few decades, America and India have emerged as partners in a variety of fields from commerce and medicine, to entertainment and tourism. As this partnership has grown, so too has each country’s adoption of certain customs. In fact, it now appears as if India is starting to embrace an institution that is uniquely American: divorce.
“There has been a huge change, a drastic change and divorce rates are increasing,” said Dr. Geetanjali Sharma, a marriage counselor working in a satellite city of Delhi. “There’s been a 100% increase in divorce rates in the past five years alone.”
Interestingly, the segment of Indian society where the divorce rates have climbed the highest is among the young, urban middle class.
This is likely because this generation, unlike those in the past, is being afforded tremendous employment opportunities brought about by the country’s booming economy. Consequently, young people are typically more concerned with their jobs than settling down to raise a family or even resolving their marital difficulties.
“I feel people are concentrating more on the careers and less on their personal lives,” said Dr. Sharma. “I also feel they lack patience and tolerance. They don’t want to put more efforts into a relationship to fix the issues and they feel that escapism is the solution.”
The high rate of divorce among the young, urban middle class may also be attributed to the gradual evolution of gender roles.
To illustrate, the thriving economy has resulted in many young women jettisoning their traditional gender roles (i.e., being a homemaker) in exchange for positions in the workforce. However, this can serve to create marital tension and lead to the eventual dissolution of a marriage.
“Today the Indian male, as opposed to earlier, is a very complex entity. We want our wives to be really progressive, modern, so to say, which is why we married them in the first place,” said one recently divorced Indian man. “But at the same time, we still want our wives to cook food for us. We want our wives to be there when we get back home.”
It is worth noting that while the divorce in India is rising, it still has an overall divorce rate that is among the lowest in the world. In fact, only one in every 1,000 marriages ends in divorce.
Stay tuned for more from our Ft. Worth family law blog …
To learn more about divorce, contact an experienced and skilled legal professional.
This post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.
Related Resources:
Not So Happily Ever After As Indian Divorce Rate Doubles (BBC News)
