Divorces In The 1900's

It is not uncommon for the general population to have divorces, it is seen as a social norm now, but this was not always the case for America. From the early 1900’s the crude divorce rate, also known as the number of divorces per 1,000 people in a given area, began on a steady rise, and in the 1970’s they went skyrocketing (Family Facts). There are many theories as to what could have caused these increases, but only one probable cause for the increase in the first half of the 20th century as well as one probable cause for the divorce rates in the second half of the 20th century. The reason behind what has caused divorce rates to increase has always been misconstrued for some people, but the sound, or most valid with true premises, is that the

The Women's Rights Movement began in 1948, but was not taken seriously until the early 1900’s due to the The Seneca Falls movement (History of the Women’s Rights Movement). Women began to realize they were not merely an accessory in the household kitchen, they started the process of getting jobs jobs and understand their dexterous abilities that could be used in the world. In 1923, Alice Paul drafted the Equal Rights Amendment for the United States Constitution. But what does women's rights have to with the rise in divorce? Many women felt obligated to remain at home, even if the situation was unpleasant. She was taught that her job was to be a good housewife, and take care of the husband and children. But when The Women’s Rights Movement began, they realized this did not have to be the case. The industrial revolution and war times provided jobs for women, giving them the financial security to get a divorce. This is the only logical and reasonable explanation for the steady increase because previously women were reliant on the male to bring forth income in order to survive, had they left they would not have been able to get a job and had a women gotten a divorce she would have been homeless and jobless. These movements and supply of jobs gave women the power to begin to leave because they felt they had gained the abilities to leave. It was not a radical

Ronald Reagan, current governor of California, passed a law in 1969, dissolving the need for any reason to be submitted in order to obtain a divorce (The Evolution of Divorce Publications National Affairs). This radical decision was brought on by his first wife, Jane Wyman, who had accused him of "mental cruelty," meaning causing harm to someone in a nonphysical way, in order to obtain a divorce in 1948. After California passed this law, all states followed in their footsteps in adopting the new divorce law. This made it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to get a divorce for both men and women. Because of this divorce rates began to escalate rapidly, and continued this pattern for many