Reasons Your Wife Is More Likely to Divorce You

Women are significantly more likely to initiate divorce than men are, new research presented at the American Sociological Association meeting found.

 

In the study, women accounted for the breakups of 69 percent of the marriages that ended in divorce. They also reported much lower levels of marital bliss than men did.

But it’s not that women are unhappier in all relationships: In fact, they were no more likely than guys to pull the plug on dating or cohabiting relationships—and they weren’t any less satisfied in them. 

The problem, then, seems specific to marriage, and may partly be because women aren’t as well-served by the institution as men are, says study author Michael Rosenfeld, Ph.D., an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University.    

Divorce

“Men enjoy some crucial privileges within marriage that makes them, on average, more satisfied with marriage than their wives,” he says.

Take, for example, what’s going on at home when the workday’s done. According to the Pew Research Center, men and women in dual-income families actually spend a pretty similar amount of time on total work a week—with guys raking in more time at the office, but their wives spending more time on housework and childcare. Still, men enjoy more than 20 percent more leisure time a week than their wives do.   

That’s not to say that your wife is going to mail you the papers just because you’re watching TV while she’s folding the clothes. There are clearly many factors involved in divorces—like financial stress, discrepancies in life goals, and infidelity—some of which may be out of your control.

But this isn’t the 1950s. Make an effort to ensure you’re living as a “team.” Check in regularly with your partner about how she thinks the relationship is going, says Rosenfeld. 

And give your to-do lists and household responsibilities a regular check in, too. Scheduling a monthly review of what’s on each of your plates will give you both the opportunity to air any frustrations you may have with your tasks—before they end up festering further.