Women are divorcing — and finally finding happiness

Divorce rates in the United States are hard to calculate. There is the “crude” rate, the number of divorces among all people in a year. There is the “refined” rate, the number of divorces among women in a year. (Researchers use women because female respondents’ data reporting is seen as more reliable.) Divorce rates can also be calculated by dividing the number of marriages in a year by the number of divorces. Perhaps impossible to count: the marriages where couples separate but never divorce.

It is an oft-cited statistic that half of U.S. marriages end in divorce, but that figure has not been accurate since the 1970s. Some numbers put the current divorce rate around 40 percent. But even then, imagine: If 40 percent of Honda CR-Vs had engine failures, Honda would issue a recall of the whole line.

Studies show that when women advance in their careers, they are more likely to divorce. So are female breadwinners. One 2020 analysis specifically examined the marriages of women in Sweden, who have more income parity than American women and more of a social safety net. It wasn’t the lack of social support that made these women divorce; it was the lack of relational support.

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