In today’s society, divorce has become more and more unexceptional. The mass media is full of information about celebrity divorces, and many western movies and literature contain the premise of divorce in them. The divorce rate in the United States stands at 53%, with that in Belgium being a staggering 70%. However, for most Asians, divorce has never been a conventional concept. This essay aims to delve deeper in western and Asian family values and try to explain why divorce is more common in western countries.
I grew up in India for the first 18 years of my life. Even though I went to a school with over 5000 students, I only knew one person whose parents were divorced. It was only through exposure to western art and media through which I first learnt of divorce. When I asked my parents about their view on divorce, I was told that divorces are terrible and children of divorce are always dysfunctional. As I spoke to more and more people, I
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As mentioned above, divorce is more and more commonplace in western society today. The stigma around divorce is fading. For eg. One may not have to be afraid of losing their job due to public outrage or being considered a black sheep in the family because of divorce. Many of the top professionals in various industries today in the West are divorced. Such a mindset has not developed in the east yet. Eastern cultures propagate strong family values and long lasting marriages. From an example in my family, one of my relatives got divorced and was subsequently seen in a different light by those around him. He was excluded from community events and lost dear friends. In rural India, such reactions are aggravated, with most extreme cases seeing honor killings or family suicides. Due to the extraordinary stigma attached to divorce in eastern society, many people are afraid of divorcing their partners even if they are in an unhappy