Running head: THE CURRENT DIVORCE TREND IN AFRICA 1

The Current Divorce Trend in Africa

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THE CURRENT DIVORCE TREND IN AFRICA 2

The Current Divorce Trend in Africa

The whole of Africa is known to have high degrees of family instability. Children are

fostering, migration and widowhood separate families. Consequently, nearly 65% of children in

African nations do not live with their single parents (Gloldberg, 2013). However, until recently,

the rising trend of marriage breakups is the main source of family instability. At the individual

level, there is exists a trend in the complex relationship between industrialization and divorce

regarding urbanization, women’s empowerment, individual self-interest, and breakdown of

Kinship ties.

While the industrialized African nations have a high level of divorce than less

industrialized African nations, the rate of divorce will increase as African countries are becoming

more industrialized. In fact, this belief is widely supported by demographers and is consistent

with the current divorce trends in Western nations which erupted in the beginning of the

twentieth century (Amato, 2000). On the contrary, Goode (1993) observes that the rates of

divorce appear to be low during industrialization process. According to Goode (1993), this

occurs in nations with stable divorce system where the nations hold the traditional basis of union

instability. For instance, the Muslin nations which allow men to divorce which basis and no legal

system. These practices may be affected by high rates of divorce found among Muslim growth in

Algeria. Although the process of industrialization may impact the Muslim tradition practices to

result in low divorce, the decrease may be for a short time.

Studies concern with marriage breakups in Africa have explored the causes of these

breakup at the individual level within one specific nation. Besides, studies have explored a

handful of nations in Africa where divorce is considered to be high: Ethiopia (Tilson & Larsen,

2000), Nigeria (Gade-Brandon, 1992), Malawi (Reniers 2008) and Ghana (Takyi & Gyimah,
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2007). Some of these studies have demonstrated that individual level affirms the assumption that

women’s empowerment will increase rates of marriage breakup because the well-educated

female will highly decline traditional unions and working women will have an option to leave

the unacceptable union. Takyi and Gyimah (2007) demonstrate that Women in Ghana with

primary school education are likely to be marriage break-ups than married women with no

education. Reneirs (2008) agree with this effect of education. Therefore, there is a connection

between women’s empowerment and marriage breakup in Africa.

HIV/AIDS risks, fertility, and polygyny are the sources of marriage breakups at the

individual level. Although there is a complex relationship between marriage breakups and

polygyny, polygyny permits the husbands to take other wives without divorce the current wife.

However, women may want to leave a polygamous marriage. Scholars have demonstrated that

impacts of polygamy rely on the wife’s rank (Reniers, 2008) and the accumulative number of

wives (Tilson & Larsen, 2000). Scholars have also demonstrated that the risks of marriage

breakups decline as the number of children increases, although the accumulative number of

children is endogenous (Gloldberg, 2013). Besides, research performed in Malawi demonstrate

that HIV/AIDs have increased the risk of marriage breakups because women and men who

believe that their spouse is infected are likely to end the marriage (Reniers, 2008). Studies at

individual level reveal a complex relationship between industrialization and marriage break-ups.

Finally, the trend of marriage breakups in Africa points to family bonds through lineage

rather than marital bonds as a way of accepting divorce. Besides, divorce is more common in

urban areas than rural areas with some nations such as Ghana and Mozambique having a high

proportion of separate female wage workers.

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Reference

Amato, P. R. (2000). The consequences of divorce for adults and children. Journal of Marriage

and Family 62(4), 1269-87.

Gage-Brandon, A. (1992). The polygyny-divorce relationship: A case study of Nigeria. Journal

of Marriage and Family 54(2), 285-292.

Goldberg, R., E. (2013). Family instability and early initiation of sexual activity in Western

Kenya. Demography 50(2), 725-50.

Goode, W., J. (1993). World changes in divorce patterns. New Haven, Yale University Press.

Reniers, G. (2003). Divorce and remarriage in rural Malawi. Demographic Research, 1(6), 175-

206.

Takyi, B., K., & Gyimah S., O. (2007). Matrilineal family ties and marital dissolution in Ghana.

Journal of Family Issues 28, 82-705.

Tilson, D., & Larsen U. (2000). Divorce in Ethiopia: The impact of early marriage and

childlessness. Journal of Biosocial Science 32, 355-372.