By Majd Othman
KUWAIT: Social media has not only connected people, but also helped the world improve its awareness and change its views toward many traditional negative ideas and habits. Marrying a divorced woman (with or without children) is one of the issues that social media has accelerated in reducing stereotyping among people. Meanwhile, many people still believe marrying or having a relationship with a divorced woman is unacceptable, with this thought prevalent all around the world and not in specific cultures.
Kuwait Times discussed with people their opinion about this matter and asked them what the main reasons are for societies not accepting them, and how social media has decreased stereotyping such women. Saad Rashed said conversative societies think women should always have the perfect specifications. "They want her to cook well, raise children, take care of her husband and also be beautiful, almost with superpowers. When a woman is divorced, they subconsciously think she lacks one of these specifications, an that’s why they reject her,” he said.
"On the other hand, in societies that are less conservative, they think having a relationship with or marrying a divorced woman or a widow will not give them the perfect image they want to portray to the world. People are always looking for perfection in other people’s eyes, and that’s why they avoid taking this step,” he added. Rashed said over the years, men have started to become more aware about this issue, and many realized women who have been through a failed marriage are more mature and understandable about married life, and social media has a helped a lot in delivering this message.
"Not only women — men who have been through this experience become more open to life and more respecting of women,” he said. Social media, which is full of human experiences, is changing the opinions of generations, who have become more lenient about the strict thoughts they have. Sanaa Omar, an expat, said many women are still suffering from discrimination due to being divorced, whether acceptance by the husband’s parents or the stress women face from the society that always blames her for being divorced.
"People should understand that every person has the right to choose whether to stay in a relationship or not, but due to people’s interfere in others’ lives, some people are afraid to take this step, although they might think that the divorcee (male or female) is the right person for them,” she said. Regarding the effect of openness and social media in changing the general stereotype of divorced women, Omar said that everything today is encouraging people to change their lame ideas about many things. "We see examples of a happy couple, where one of them was divorced, and some of them with children too.
Also, there are people who are always sharing awareness on this issue. It takes one step from us to shake these old traditional thoughts, whether by men accepting divorced and widowed women and vice versa,” she added. Amthal Ali told Kuwait Times her sister faced the same issue for years, but due to the great support from their family, she was able to face the stress from society. Also, because she was young when she got divorced, her friends were more understanding, as they were more open than the older generations. "Finally, she met a man who rejected the idea that there is even an issue in being divorced, and believed it was her choice to separate,” Ali said.