KUWAIT: A report by The Economist magazine has shown divorce cases are rising in many Arab countries, as many women are now initiating divorce procedures compared to previous years." Divorced women have been previously criticized, but today they are challenging traditions at courts and other places, as divorce rates have been rising in Arab countries, while they are decreasing in Western countries,” the report said.
In Egypt, for example, divorce rates have doubled since the turn of the century, when laws facilitated the divorce process by women. "In Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE, more than a third of marriages end in divorce, while in Kuwait, around half of marriages end in divorce,” according to the report. The report adds the reasons for the increase is because of facilitating the process for women to divorce in several countries, and the decrease of the influence of families on unhappy marriages, as well as an increase of marriages based on love and not on traditional terms.
"Marriages in the Arab world have shifted from being a collective decision to being an individual decision,” said social studies expert Sumaya Numaan. Along with the decrease in religious opinion on this matter, the report shows the participation of women in the workforce has allowed them to be financially independent. The phenomenon has been supervised by governments in all 22 Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia has seven divorces per hour, with an average rate of 162 cases a day. In Tunisia, 940 divorce cases are listed every month, with a rate of four divorces every three hours. In Algeria, divorce rates have increased to around 64,000 cases a year, which equates to one divorce every 12 minutes, while in Jordan there are 14,000 cases annually.