I hear the radio in South Africa, where I work as an academic, present an interesting fact: the divorce rate in India is 1%, one of the lowest divorce rates in the world. I knew this figure before I heard it on the radio.
How does one explain this abysmally low divorce rate in India?
I could tell you about the low employment rate of women in the country. Economists refer to this as the “missing women” from India’s labour force. India’s female labour force participation has consistently stayed below 30%. The bulk of this female labour force participation in the economy comes from lower-caste and class women. The more educated a woman gets, the chances of her dropping out from the labour market increases as she is required to undertake social reproductive tasks in the family.
In the absence of gainful employment and supportive families, women are financially dependent on husbands and in-laws. When marriages turn oppressive, women are rendered further vulnerable. This explains the high suicide rates amongst housewives in India. As per the National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) data, the suicide rates among married women are higher than farmer suicides.
Instead, let me tell you about my divorce experience at the Family Court in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This major life event happened to coincide with the global pandemic