Assignment on: Eng 105

Sec: 25
Assignment Topic: Alarming increase of divorce rate and its aftermath, perspective from
women.
Submitted to: Nasrin Pervin

Department of English
Submitted by
Azharul Islam……………………………1610548030

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 Table of Contents
1) Introduction……………………………………….1
2) Background………………………………………1-2
3) Research Questions………………………………2
4) Hypothesis…………………………………………3
5) Methodology………………………………………3
6) Data Representation and Analysis………………..4-12
7) Summary of Research Findings………………….12
8) Recommendations…………………………………13
9) Conclusion…………………………………………13
10) References…………………………………………14

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 Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank my parents for their relentless support. Special thanks
goes to Moah mohammad for always being there for me. My deepest gratitude for Nishat Sultana
my best friend for her help in the paper. I thank my extraordinary friends for all their support.
My deepest appreciation to all the students who have participated in the survey, without them my
research would have been baseless. All my family and friends also deserve special thanks.
Finally thanks to Miss Nasrin Pervin who have guided me throughout the whole process without
whom this wouldn’t be possible.

Abstract
The main objective of my paper is to find out the reasons for divorce. Divorce in our country is
at the highest high state in history. The study examined the reasons behind the rise in divorce and
proven that it is a good scenario. The study revealed that the reason for rise in divorce is the
women uprising and eradication of social prejudice and traditional social norms. The study
thoroughly uncovered why divorce is happening and why it is good.

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 Introduction
Divorce is the death of a marriage, dissolution of the relationship between a husband and a wife.
Currently divorce rate is booming in Bangladesh with only Dhaka having 23 divorce per day in
2015(Wikipedia). The divorce rate is increasing because of various reasons such as increase in
economic independence of women, tendency of lack of patience to adjust with someone among
the young generation, inferiority complex, effect of western tradition, decrease of traditional and
religious values, dowry etc. But it’s not all that bad. As a person gets separated from his or her
spouse for any logical reason he or she gets the chance to start his or her life from a new
beginning and generally not doing the same mistake twice. He or she gets the chance to choose
her life partner with the assist of a very bad experience of divorce. Especially the women cherish
this chance a lot because generally a women in Bangladesh get married to someone either
because family pressures her or because by being of some tragedy. My focus will be to find out
why the divorce rate is increasing and its effects on people specifically on women. It is said that
it’s better to be alone than to be with someone who makes you alone. The people who get
divorced are more-happy in being separated than being together and in their second marriages.
Most of the marriages in Bangladesh are arranged by family. The boy and the girl don’t get to
know each other before marriage and so more than a few times they get married to the wrong
person but at modern times they can’t adjust as their parents used to do which leads to many
problems and confrontations. For example: in today’s time a girl wants to do something with her
life, she wants to become someone, achieve something in her life. But after marriage her new
family, especially her father-in-law, mother-in law and her husband generally don’t want her to
work outside of home more specifically with other men. They are afraid what will their neighbor
say, what will their relatives say and so on but they don’t think the husband or their son also
work with other women or have to meet with other women because of work. But their thinking is
like a girl has to be the “Holy Marry” (like a goddess) but the boy can be whatever they wish. A
woman of today doesn’t or will not tolerate this kind of things, she thinks that she has the same
rights as her husband has and the society doesn’t feed her. These two kinds of thinking clash and
usually ends up in divorce and after divorce a women can be whatever she likes, it’s like
breaking out of a jail. I want to find out in my research that if my claim is correct or not how
much of it is correct and how much is not.

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 Background
Marriage & family are probably society’s oldest institutions but in today’s age marriage and
divorce doesn’t carry the weight it used to. At past divorce wasn’t so easily said and done. In fact
divorce was the rarest scene in the society. Now-a-days this is changing as new generation is not
so tolerant especially women. “According to a report of BBS on marriage, divorce and separation
in Bangladesh, the number of divorced and separated people in 1994 was 0.19 million” (Parvez,
2011). “By 1996, this had increased to 0.23 million” (Parvez, 2011). This increase in divorce is
caused by a considerable amount of socio economic change in women’s status in the society. In
Bangladesh like in any other South Asian countries, marriage is considered a turning point in a
girl’s life. A girl in Bangladesh is restricted from her individual rights and power in life. Thus,
the status of a woman in Bangladesh is derived from her family and marriage. Because of this
girls suffer from various kinds of oppression and they don’t even used to protest. “At least half of
all women in Bangladesh said that they had been physically or sexually assaulted since that age
[of 15 years]. In general, the vast majority of this violence was inflicted by a male intimate
partner” (wikiiskam, 2005). Only two percent women in our country ever sought institutional
help. All of this s because our society doesn’t view women in a same level as men. “In 2013,
Bangladesh was ranked 142 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index and 115 out
149 countries surveyed on the Gender Inequality Index” (Wikipedia). Our culture and prejudice
is the reason that our women suffer from so much oppression and don’t even say against it. Now-
a-days women are speaking up and fighting for their rights. One of the example is the rising
divorce rate and second marriages. “According to newspaper ads, the number of second marriage
nowadays is about three times more than it was in the seventies. It means that both the rate of
divorce and of second marriage is rising and social acceptance is increasing” (Yasmin, 2012).
Relationships have become complex in the modern days. “‘Marriage’ which once said that ‘made
in heaven ‘failed to bring heavenly joy among modern couples” (Faysal). In these days
Compatibility and mutual understanding is the major problem which modern couples are facing
(Faysal). “Shift in the role and responsibility of the parents bringing lot of tensions in the family
system” (Faysal). In a nutshell society is changing, women are rising, social roles are changing
and women don’t want to fall behind all of this factor is causing the rise in divorce and it’s all for
better.

Research Questions
Everything that is concerned with the increase rate of divorce and its aftermath on perspective of
women should be thoroughly analyzed. Divorce as mentioned earlier is now occurring more
rapidly and it’s changing people’s lives. I decided to thoroughly analyze some questions to find
-out about this phenomenon, my questions are:
*What are the causes of divorce?
*How often does the divorce take place in Bangladesh?
*Why are people more-happy in being separated?

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*What are effects of divorce on family specially children?
*What do men and women do after getting divorced?
*Why are people more-happy in their second marriages?
*What kind of oppression do women face because of male dominance in our society?
*What are the reasons of women up-rising at modern times in Bangladesh?
*Why the current social norms are one of the main reasons for divorce?

Hypothesis
In my research I hope find, why the divorce rate is increasing and why people are more happy
being separated and in their second marriages. In my opinion one of the prime reasons of divorce
is that women are getting more and more economically independent, they are standing toe to toe
with their spouses in every aspect. This is a very good sign because it indicates that our country
is developing socially. This also indicates the ugly truth of women oppression in our culture
because of male dominance. Furthermore I intend to find that why people are more happy in
being separated and in their second marriages. Because I believe that the reason for that is female
uprising. At past a woman’s opinion didn’t matter in anything not even in the decisions
concerning their life but at present the situation is changing and the reason for this is because of
women up-rising. As women don’t give up to male dominance, males feel insecure or inferior so
they try to dominate the spirit of the women which leads to divorce. In our country a woman is
thought to be or treated like a product. A product or a property can’t say anything and can’t do
anything that’s the basic idea of our society but as the women are proving the society wrong in
every aspect the society tries to fight back resulting in divorce.

Research Methodology
For the primary research I shall conduct a survey associated with the increase of divorce rate and
people being happy separated and on second marriages on various people, mostly of whom will
be the students from my varsity, divorcees, separated couples and other people as well. I will
design questions appropriate for the data I am hoping for.
On secondary research I am going to browse the internet and read books, journals and biography.
I will also try to interview, people who have gone through this kind of experience and last but
not the least I will take help from my friends, family and teachers.

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 Data Presentation and Analysis

01. What are the effects of divorce on a family?

a. Family gets destroyed.

b. Family survives but not for long.
c. Family gets divided and neither part become happy.
d. Family gets divided and both parts become happy.

Sales
3%

27%

42%

27%

Family gets destroyed. Family survives but not for long.

Family gets divided and neither part become happy. Family gets divided and both parts become happy.

According to the analysis we can see that most of the people that is 42.42% agree with the fact that
because of divorce people family gets separated and neither parts become happy and only 3.03%
believe in the opposite idea. This result slightly opposes my hypothesis as I believe that a women
becomes free of a prison after divorce but I also believe that divorce destroys family and the husband
and other family members gets hurt because of it.
02. According to you what is the reason of most of the forced arrange marriages?

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 a. Because parents think of girls as burden.

b. Because parents worry about their daughters security.

c. Because Society put pressure on the family and on the girl, and society still doesn’t support love

-marriage.

d. All of the above.

Sales

32%
38%

29%

Because parents think of girls as burden.

Because parents worry about their daughters security.
Because Society put pressure on the family and on the girl, and society still doesn’t support love -marriage.
All of the above.

As we can see from the analysis that highest number of people voted insecurity as the prime
reason for force marriage. I also agree on that fact. I also claim that there’s no guarantee that
girls would be secure after marriage. Lowest chosen option was “ parents think of girls as
burden”, but I think though parents don’t think or

03. Why do think a girl accepts a force marriage?

a. Because she feels insecure as she has no other financial support other than her parents.

b. Because she is emotionally weak and can’t raise voice against her parents as they might get hurt.

c. Because a girl doesn’t believe of herself as equal to boys and don’t try to fight against the odds.

d. All of the above.

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 12%

30%

9%
48%

Because she feels insecure as she has no other financial support other than her parents.
Because she is emotionally weak and can’t raise voice against her parents as they might get hurt.
Because a girl doesn’t believe of herself as equal to boys and don’t try to fight against the odds.
All of the above.

From the analysis we can clearly see that 48.48% or almost half of the people chose the option which is
girls are emotionally weak . This is favorable for my hypothesis as I believe that parents emotionally
blackmail a girl to force fully marry someone. 12.12% and 9.09% chose insecurity and unequal an 3.30%
chose all of the above.

04. Do you think girls who have jobs or other financial supports are more likely to get divorced?

a. Yes, if so why?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

b. No.

c. Maybe.

d. Depends.

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 Sales

15%
18%

15%

53%

Yes, if so why? No Maybe Depends

According to the graph we can see that 52.94% or more than half of the people aren’t sure whether a
girls job causes divorce or not. As I don’t know the answer I was hoping to find it out from the survey.
My hypothesis was hoping that the answer would be yes. Yes and No option was somewhat similar
17.65% and 14.71% ,so they cancel each other out. Rest 14.71% chose depends meaning they are not
sure.

05. What are the effects on the children of a divorce?

a. Mentally traumatized.

b. Become a little unsocial.

c. Fear marriage when it’s time of their own.

d. All of the above.

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 Sales

38%

47%

9%
6%

Mentally traumatized. Become a little unsocial.

Fear marriage when it’s time of their own. All of the above.

47.06% people chose all of the above which is what I was hoping for. I believe that divorce affect a child
in that way and more, which is why parents don’t go for divorce so easily. Children hardly accepts others
as their parents if their parents remarry. 38.24% chose mentally traumatized as it’s the obvious and
8.82% and 5.88% chose other two.

06. What is the reason of alarming rise of divorce rate in today’s age?

a. Because women are more educated.

b. Gender equality is rising more and more every year.

c. Because man and woman have become more intolerant.

d. All of the above.

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 Sales

12%
21%

18%

48%

Because women are more educated. Gender equality is rising more and more every year.
Because man and woman have become more intolerant. All of the above.

According to the graph we can see that 48.48% choose intolerance as the reason for alarming increase
in divorce which to an extent support my hypothesis. I was hoping that people would choose all of the
above more but only 21.21% chose that and 12.12 chose girls are more educated and 18.18% chose as
gender equality is rising which also supports my claims to some extent.

07. How many people are happy after divorce?

a. All of them.

b. Some of them.

c. None of them.

d. Depends……………………………..

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 Sales

9%

24%

6%

62%

All of them. Some of them. None of them. Depends………..

Most of the people that is 61.76% chose some of the divorced people are happy after divorce which is
the exact result I was hoping. I claimed that most of the people after divorce aren’t happy. 23.53%
people chose depends whether people stay happy after divorce or not. 5.88% chose none of them which
is the least percentage of people, this supports my claim as I stated women become more happy after
being divorced from an unhappy marriage. 8.28% chose all of them.

08. What led to the traditional social norm at present concerning women?

a. Religious misinterpretations.

b. Religious beliefs.

c. Ancient traditions going back to thousands of years.

d. At past people didn’t live long and women were considered weak and inferior.

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 Sales

25%
31%

16%

28%

Religious misinterpretations.
Religious beliefs.
Ancient traditions going back to thousands of years.
At past people didn’t live long and women were considered weak and inferior.

31.25% chose religious misinterpretations as the reason behind traditional social norms which support
my hypothesis. I claimed that people didn’t understand what the religion actually said and so they
misinterpreted it’s words. 28.31% say religious beliefs are the reason as some religion do cause these
prejudice . 25% people say women are weak and 16.63% say ancient tradition.

09. Do you think a girl has the right to disobey, disrespect, harm (physically & mentally) and ask harsh
questions to her parents like “ Why did you gave birth to me if you think of me as a burden or if you
couldn’t provide me security”

a. Yes

b. No

c. Maybe

d. Depends……………………………..

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 Sales

9%

35%
21%

35%

Yes No Maybe Depends……..

65.29% people said no and I thought majority would say yes as I believe parents don’t have unlimited
access in their child’s life and they can’t make them do anything after a certain age and if the try to the
child has the right to defend her/himself. 8.82% chose depends and 35.29% chose yes which supports
my hypothesis to some extent. 20.59% chose maybe.

Summary of Research Findings

The data I collected matched my hypothesis to a very good extent. I wanted to find out why
there’s an increased number of divorce, what ere its effects on perspective from women. My
hypothesis was as at past women’s voice didn’t matter in case of her life decision, women were
married off without their consent, but now women status has improved dramatically. Women no
longer suffer silently and they fight this leads to increase in divorce. My data supports my claim
that society’s prejudice is the reason behind women oppression and as at modern times it’s
changing it causing divorce and wider social change. In my research I found that religious
misinterpretation as well as religious beliefs in some context are the reason behind traditional
social norms. I also found out that women are suffering to some extent because of their own
fault. Women don’t tend to hurt their family even if their family is doing wrong to them they are
emotionally weak. I found out that it’s not sure if people live more happily after divorce but my
hypothesis was that they do. I found out what happen to families when they go through divorce.
In a nutshell my findings support my hypothesis to a far extent and there’s only a few vague
points about my research that doesn’t help in my hypothesis.

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 Recommendations
From the data collected in my research it is clear that the cause of divorce is decrease in gender
inequality, female uprising and breaking of old social norms. So I think we should inspire
women to break these century old chains and stand toe to toe with men. We should let things
happen as they are happening as they are happening. We should also teach our young generation
to be more tolerant and patient.

Conclusion
In conclusions divorce rate is increasing it shows good and somewhat bad signs. Though good
signs shadow the bad signs as we have seen in the paper. I affects a family a society and a whole
generation. We should try to be tolerant towards this new trend and accept it as it is because
divorce is a normal thing or not a huge thing if we see it in that way and even if we couldn’t we
should see it as an ordinary part of life. Although divorce has some bad sides in the end it’s all
for better.

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 Reference
Wikiislam. Muslim Statistics (Marriage). Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Muslim_Statistics_-_Marriage#Bangladesh
This article tells about the after marital status of women, violence and injustice happening to
them, divorce and violence rate etc. about women in almost all Muslim countries including
Bangladesh.
Faysal,.M.M. (n.d). Causes of increasing divorce rate: In the context of World & Bangladesh.
Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from
https://www.academia.edu/13667272/Causes_of_increasing_divorce_rate_In_the_context_of_W
orld_and_Bangladesh?auto=download

This journal tells about the causes of increasing divorce rate throughout the world. It also
contains graph and statistics of the reasons and occurrence of divorce all over the world amd in
Bangladesh.

Parvez,.N.K. (2011). Social Changes and Women-Initiated Divorce in Dhaka, Bangladesh:

Gaining or Loosing Power? Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from
http://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/5312/84856665.pdf

This Journal tells about the social and financial changes happening to women in Bangladesh. It
also says about the women initiated divorce in Bangladesh which is the sign of financial
independence of women in Bangladesh.

Yasmin,.S.(2012). When a second marriage comes. The Daily Star. Retrieved on July 17,2017,
from http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-225370
This article contains the reasons of divorce and second marriages. It also the problems arises
when a divorcee tries to get remarried.

Wikipedia. (n.d). Gender inequality in Bangladesh. Retrieved July 17, 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality_in_Bangladesh
This article contains about the discrimination women face in Bangladesh in all aspects of life and
the reasons behind it. It also contains how this gender discrimination pushes women in a
unhappy marriage, which leads to divorce.

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