42 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
attorney, was shocked to read that more than one-third of all
currently married persons report that, just within the last year
alone, they have seriously discussed the idea of separating from
their spouse. (Again, wives are more likely to raise this issue than
are husbands.)
Who cuts and runs? In general, women appear to be the instiga-
tors who most often want the divorce. Of all divorce complaint
filings, 60 to 70 percent are initiated by wives. This is not to say
that the men may not have caused the problem initially (they
may have cheated or “quit communicating”), but it is the wives
who take the bull by the horns and initiate legal action the vast
majority of the time.
The level of commitment to marital stability is generally viewed
as being somewhat less strong in younger people. And, not sur-
prisingly, younger couples are far more likely to divorce than are
older people. The fact that young couples are generally some-
what less mature and that their lives are less well established
can make them sitting ducks for divorce. Younger people tend to
feel that their social lives might be better if they were separated,
but very few older people feel the same way. Older females, in
particular, seem (legitimately) concerned that they will be worse
off after divorce. Some folks—again most often the younger peo-
ple—think that separation might improve their business or career
opportunities.
Let’s face it, today’s generation of Americans is often pretty
self-absorbed, and they now possess a multiplicity of “lifestyle
options,” many of which are seemingly simpler than toughing
out the difficult periods inherent in any marriage.
The Women’s Movement
The reason husband and wife do not understand each other is because they
belong to different sexes.
—Dorothy N. Dix
Women have been flooding into the workplace ever since the
1970s. They have flourished in that arena and their economic
power has grown steadily. Nowadays, women make up 47 percent