Why more woman are petitioning for divorce?

PROF DATUK DR ZALEHA KAMARUDDIN wrote an 'interesting' piece in the Star dated 15 December 2009 to discern a contention and deduce a logic that in general Muslim women in Malaysia do have equal access to divorce (as oppose to their spouses, I suppose).

She also said that there is empirical evidence to proof her point.

But it is a difficult read. So, I have made some effort to summarize her article for concision purposes and to ease contemplation.

A big part of the content did not convey the intent of the above matter (though) but rather emphasizing on explaining what the title is about, for which I think is a result made by the decision makers of the publisher (read: editors@thestar).

And don't bother to read the long introduction as it is completely irrelevant.

In the article Why more woman are petitioning for divorce (without a question mark), she noted that there are studies to show that women were not given adequate access to the divorce process. The contention (of this matter) especially in relation to access to the divorce process is empirically proven by the points she noted below:

1. A national study on divorce conducted by the Department of Shariah Judiciary in 2005 shows that females made up the majority of applications presented in the Shariah courts of all states in Malaysia.

2. In her 2008 research, she indicated that although the husband may not have much interest in the marriage itself, he does not wish to divorce his wife, which would then motivate the wife to petition (for divorce).

3. Women who are economically dependent on their husbands, acts as a deterrent to divorce in Malaysia. However, since there is an increase in female labour participation in Malaysia (46.7%), this opens up the option for them to initiate divorce.

4. Women are getting more educated and thus becoming more vocal about inadequacies in their marriage.

5. Women would prefer to pursue their careers (rather than getting married at a younger age), thus giving themselves more opportunities to participate in activities outside traditional stereotypes.

6. Legal aid, introduced in 1971 had met its objective to assist litigants with limited means to initiate legal proceedings, including divorce.

7. Although on paper it appears that the men are petitioning, but, in reality, both parties agree to divorce, which means in most cases, the wife is the one who instigates the divorce by persuading the husband to expedite the divorce via talaq.

8. Upon divorce, the financial loss suffered by women is more often than not far greater than that suffered by men.

9. Women will be more concerned about division of property, settlement of maintenance, and arrangements regarding children.

So, all these factors point to the reasoning as to 'why' more woman are petitioning for divorce, rather than proof a point that in general Muslim women in Malaysia do have equal access to divorce.

Comprende? Yes/no

But actually, what the writer wanted to emphasize was "All the above empirical evidence shows that generally Muslim women in Malaysia do have equal access to divorce" (last para).

Okay, we are all a little confused here. The contents proved that it wanted to explain the title but the writer wanted to emphasize a different matter.

However, at the end of the article the writer goes on to question the reader: "The next important question would be where they would go from there (from where?). The future seems so bleak."

Ha..ha.. what's the point of going through all this if the writer thinks "the future seems bleak..." (for women seeking divorce, I suppose..) and leave it at that?

Serupa macam 'ending' drama Melayu je! - a positive start with a negative ending....semua potong stim!