A REPORT issued recently by the General Authority for Statistics showed a 72.9 percent increase in the divorce rate among workingwomen. This means that the highest percentage of divorce in the country is among employed women. It is strange that one of the local newspapers has attributed this high percentage of divorce to women's work. I believe anyone who blames women's work as the cause for this high percentage of divorce is facing the issue with a very shallow mindset. Whoever tries to ponder on the issue from different angles to see the real causes will find that the matter is much deeper than women's work. It is easy to see an attempt to make women's employment a scapegoat and blame workingwomen for all the illnesses in society. First among these is the institution of marriage, its components and methods. Statistics also indicate that the determinants of this institution in our society are a total failure. Divorce in itself is not a failure as much as the absence of any serious and positive efforts to stop a failure. Actually, the real failure is in continuing a tattered marital life due to fear for others, including children or the extended family. This is despite the fact that continuing a failed marital life is the one that will have a negative impact on those around the couple than a divorce. Returning to the subject of high divorce rate among workingwomen, I see that a woman's economic independence and the rise in the level of awareness and education have made a woman refuse to live a half-life with a man she does not love. Even greater awareness among men makes them refuse to continue an uncomfortable marital life. Both parties or one of them has the right to put an end to this tragedy. Women used to continue a half-life due to social considerations because society looks down on a divorced woman. Society has changed and the level of awareness has risen. In my opinion, society no longer treats a divorced woman with aversion because she is not a burden on others. Now she can bear her own economic responsibilities and those of her children. So long as she is not a burden on others, she is safe. Other members of society will not look down on a divorcee as they used to do in the past. Economic empowerment of women has granted them social empowerment as well. This has qualified a woman to make decisions on her life. She is now capable of deciding her future – whether to continue a marital life or decide to separate from a man with whom life has become unbearable. It is her job that has enabled her to win this status. This contradicts some of the opinions published in several newspapers in reaction to the statistics. These strange viewpoints are no longer in tandem with the phase we are going though because they consider a woman's job to be a cause for her inability to fulfill her marital duties. If we take a quick look at conditions in our society, we can see with our naked eyes where the negligence takes place: The husband is swaying between negligence of his duties and staying up the nights in the courtyards of rest-houses. Meanwhile, a workingwoman with prick of conscience strives to compensate for her period of absence from her family. However, I am not absolving all women here. The way men have shortcomings, women have shortcomings too. But in general and as we usually hear and see, it is men who are the negligent party. Marriage is a holy relationship. If one of its pillars is violated, then separation remains the best, most courageous and safest option.
