Rise in Divorces: Damaging Society From the Inside

According to studies, divorces in Yemen have seen an unexpected rise since 2001. This in return has families worried of more unrest in family relations in the near future.

A number of marriage problems trace back to cultural reasons like couples getting married without having the chance to see one another prior to the wedding. Culturally in Yemen, when the man decides to get married, he goes to the woman's house to ask her hand from her family. When the family agrees to the marriage, the man has the right to see the woman only for five minutes with the companionship of the woman's mother or another relative. Even worse in some regions around the country, it is not acceptable for the man to see the woman he engaged. In these situations, the groom is forced to count on their mothers or other relatives to see if his bride is good or not. Sometimes the result shocks husbands, as they don't find their wives as beautiful as they thought.

Latest Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that 3,260 marriages out of 48,085 ended in divorce. These numbers are up from the previous year, when there were only 1,217 divorces out of 36,165 marriages, and also from 2003, when there were 1,457 divorces out of 27,244 marriages.

Another reason for the great rise in divorces is the interference of mother's in-law in the marriage. Each mother in law tries to control the house of the couple. Adding to that, the mother cites her daughter to be strong towards her husband, and the husband’s mother encourages her son not to be weak against his wife. "My mother encouraged me before marriage to be strong and show that I am from a strong family, however, that approach was a major reason for my divorce, and now I am living with my parents. I have been divorced for three years," says Amira Al-Naseri, a university student in the capital, who admits it will be hard to get remarried in a country like Yemen, only as a second wife.

While early marriages are considered a reason behind divorces, people in Yemen turn to marry their daughters as early as they can. According to a research study conducted by Oxfam, it reported that more than 50 percent of girls in Yemen are married before the age of eighteen. The report also revealed that Yemeni people still believe that girls are an economic burden and that a girl may not get married at all, if her marriage is delayed after the age of twenty.

People admit that in a society like Yemen, there should be no reason for the increase of divorces, as most people are usually from the same background, religion, and origin.

When the Yemen Post asked locals for the primary reasons behind the increase of divorces, the following reasons came up. The mentioned causes don't cover all the aspects but according to the people, are the most common reasons:

- Extreme jealousy and doubting your partner.

- Differences in view  and ideas between the wife and husband.

- The weak relationship between the wife and the husband.       

-Not implementing the teachings of Islam and Sharia'a.

-When the wife and the husband are not equal socially, intellectually, or financially.

-Cultural differences between the husband and the wife.

-The wide spread of music channels, which causes the husband to compare ones in channels to his wife at home.

-The doubt of infidelity from both sides.

-Money and communication problems.

-Stress of home renovation or the stress of agriculture work.

-Qat addiction.

-Physical and mental abuse.

Locals believe that families feel hurt when hearing that their daughter got divorced. Also they believe that families feel misery and overwhelmed when people misinterpreted the reason of their daughter's break up. Thousands of children get mentally hurt after the separation of their parents, which in return might hurt their ability to stay strong in society "Divorce brings  shame to the family of the woman. Even if the woman was a good person, in the end, her reputation is lost", said Naji Abdullah Ali a 45 year old, whose daughter was divorced years ago, and is still single.