Women More Likely to Initiate a Divorce

By Attorney Gregg Herman
October 28, 2015

A long time ago, I heard that studies show that women are more likely than men to initiate a divorce. I never found the source of those studies, but my cases (totally unscientific) would support that finding.

A story in today’s on-line New York Times entitled “Why Women are More Likely Than Men to Initiate a Divorce” cites a study by Michael Rosenfeld. According to the article: “Rosenfeld’s findings on divorce were consistent with previous research: women were the initiators 69 percent of the time, and both men and women usually agreed that it was the woman who wanted to call it quits.”

That statistic is pretty close to my experience. Rosenfeld believes this is because of unfair expectations women are “burdened with” when they enter into a marriage which are then frustrated.

I’m not sure that is a good explanation. I think its more related to the female more willing to try to change things, while the male is more inclined to try to keep things the same. I have no clue why there is a gender difference for wanting change, but the statistics certainly support it.

Attorney Gregg Herman is a founding partner of Loeb & Herman, LLC in Milwaukee, WI. He practices family law exclusively, and can be reached via e-mail or by calling (414) 272-5632.