Western researchers are wondering why the divorce rate is high for the career-woman.
“Promotion to a top job in politics increases the divorce rate of women but not for men, and women who become CEOs divorce faster than men who become CEOs,” summarises Johanna Rickne, a professor at Stockholm University and co-author of the research, which was published earlier this month in American Economic Journal.
The paper, which looked at the lives of heterosexual men and women working for private companies with 100 or more employees, found that married women were twice as likely to be divorced three years after their promotion to CEO level compared to their male counterparts. In the public sector, using three decades’ worth of records, women mayors and parliamentarians promoted after an election doubled their chances of splitting from their partners; 75% were still married eight years after the vote compared with 85% of those who didn’t get promoted, while there was no evidence of a similar effect for men. Female medical doctors, police officers and priests who progressed in their careers also followed the trend.
Rickne argues that although Sweden has provided the legislation and societal structures to create “the expectation that you shouldn’t need to choose between family and career”, the research reveals that what happens to families when women progress up the career ladder is often a different story.
Many couples experience “stress and friction” when there are changes in the division of their economic and social roles, for example due to the impact on the amount of leisure time they can spend together or how they divide up household tasks. But this, the research team argues, is often amplified when it is the woman who is promoted, because it creates more of a mismatch of expectations.
Junaid S. Hayat (@JunaidSHayat) nicely put it in his comments on this:
"Wonder why Allah has Commanded man to be the provider and woman to be provided for?! When this Divine Order is disturbed, of course, the consequences will be dangerous.
Some will say: "But what about Khadija (RA)" Well, a few facts:
She never stepped foot outside her house, 9-5 daily.
All her trade was done by men.
She had inherited everything from her previous husband after his death.
And by the way, Muhammad ﷺ was not her "employee", it was a Mudaraba setup, meaning capital was invested by her and business was conducted by him, and profits were split between them.
And lastly, to do great things, a woman does not have to mimic the man. Her value is in her own role as a woman, a nurture and homemaker, who is the base for family and human civilization."
