Women initiate more divorce cases than men

Divorce cases in the federal capital have increased by 10 per cent from last year for various socio-economic reasons. According to Islamabad Arbitration Council, in 2010, 625 divorce cases were registered of which 425 cases were initiated by women and 100 cases by men while 100 cases were miscellaneous.
Experts blame a number of factors for the rising divorce trend. According to them, women’s empowerment and the freedom to exercise their independent choice, changing attitudes towards divorce and changes in the legal and institutional environment make it easier for women to successfully initiate divorce cases. Records indicate that the number of divorce cases is still very low despite a sharp rise in the recent years. Of just 98 cases in 1995, the total number of registered divorces rose to 314 in 2005. Significantly, the divorce cases initiated by females rose from 19 in 1995 to 151 in 2005. Significantly, after 2002 when the Muslim Family Courts Amendment Ordinance was enforced, female-initiated divorce cases rose by almost 50 percent the following year. The cases initiated by males also rose by 40 percent. Pakistan’s last census revealed that marriage dissolutions occur mainly through widowhood. Moreover, divorce seems more visible in Punjab and Sindh. Under a no-fault divorce system, the dissolution of a marriage does not require an allegation or proof of fault of either party. An application can be made by one party or by both jointly. In such cases, one party has to prove that the other party had committed an act incompatible to marriage. This is termed a ground for divorce (popularly called fault) and is the only way to terminate a marriage contract.
SACHET Programme Coordinator Sana Yousaf said unlike Pakistan, divorce, anywhere in the world was influenced by individual circumstances and cannot be simplistically correlated in aggregate analysis or situated within broad social trends. Talking to Pakistan Today, Alia Mirza, a civil rights activist, said that in the past women had no information about their rights, but now they were aware of their rights. “Petty arguments, egotistical issues, low levels of literacy, early age marriages and frequent fracas with the mother-in-law are some of the main causes of divorce” Mirza said.