‘High number of divorce cases needs serious actions to curb’

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Lack of sufficient info among couples key reason: Qasha’an

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 12: The number of divorce cases has increased in Kuwait, reaching about 5,000 cases per year, 29 percent of which occur during the first year of the relevant couples’ marriage, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting a number of academic and law figures.

In this regard, Dean of the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University Hamoud Al-Qasha’an said, even though the rate of divorce in Kuwait has been increasing since 1988, they are still in the normal level, which is about 6.5 percent and not 30 percent, as claimed by some.

He affirmed that, for precise calculation of the divorce rate, the number of divorce cases of one year have to be compared with the number of marriages that happen in the same year. Among the major reasons behind divorce cases in Kuwait is the lack of sufficient information among young couples about marriage life, Al-Qasha’an said, adding, “We unfortunately tell our children only about the way to spend the wedding night and not how to manage their life after marriage”. He stressed that the current generation is in urgent need to learn how to control emotions and reactions especially anger.

Al-Qasha’an strongly recommended organizing training courses for those who are going to marry, so that they can be informed about their duties and their rights as well as the best ways to deal with daily problems. Meanwhile, academic figure and writer Seham Al-Fraih indicated that there are countless reasons behind divorces in Kuwait including social, economic and cultural reasons.

Ignorance She explained that some divorce cases result from the ignorance of one of the spouses about his/her duties and rights. For example, many divorce cases occur when an employed woman refuses to share financial responsibilities with her husband.

The social differences between the families of the husband and wife sometimes constitute one of the reasons behind divorce, unless the two families reach a compromise that helps deal with the social differences. Differences in educational qualifications between the spouses represent another reason behind divorces.

In cases when the wife is more qualified than the husband, the latter feels jealous and inferior, which can in turn affect his relationship with his wife. At times, family interferences, especially from the family of the wife, can lead to increase in disputes. In most cases, husbands are independent in taking decisions unlike wives, whose decisions are mostly influenced by their families, especially their mothers. Al-Fraih said current laws facilitate women to request for divorce, stressing the need to review laws in order to reduce the number of divorce cases.

She called upon the media especially TV shows and TV series to help control the phenomenon of divorces in the Kuwaiti society by increasing awareness about the dangerous consequences of divorce not only on families but on the entire society. Al-Fraih highlighted the role of Ministry of Education in terms of adding to curricula lessons that will stress the importance of families and the dangers of divorces. In addition, Scholar Sa’ad Al- Enezi lamented that the phenomenon of divorce is spreading not only in Kuwait but in all Arab countries.

He insisted that this phenomenon is dangerous, and the high number of divorce cases necessitate serious actions to curbing it. Al-Enezi explained, even though divorces have occurred among couples after 40 years of marriage, most of the divorce cases occur among couples during the first three years of their marriage due to lack of enough information about how to manage a family.

Husbands and wives need not join specific training courses, as information related to making marriages successful is readily available online nowadays and nothing more than a press on a key is enough to find answers and solutions.

Al-Enezi highlighted the destructive consequences of divorce which negatively affect all members of the family especially children, indicating that the mothers in most cases end up taking the sole responsibility of bringing up children following their divorce. He also highlighted the negative effects of divorces on men.

This news has been read 14840 times!