Local Goa News

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Marriage breakdown higher among Christians in state

Panaji: Goa may truly be the heaven where marriages are made to last an eternity, with divorce and separation rates among the lowest in the country. But an analysis of the overall figures, from the latest Census 2011 data, show that with a divorce rate of 0.13% and a separation rate of 0.25%, the occurence of breakdown of a marriage is relatively higher among Christians in Goa.

Muslims have the next highest figure of divorce and separation, while Hindus have the lowest number of such cases, among the three major communities in the state.
But experts point out that higher divorce rates should not necessarily be viewed as a negative trend and can mean a greater awareness of one's rights among members of a community.
"There is more awareness of rights now among women and they are more economically independent than say 20 years ago. Women are as educated and capable as their spouses today. What was tolerated in a marriage, like possible violence and discontentment, a couple of decades ago, may not still keep a woman sticking around in a marriage now. Exposure to media has also made divorce little more acceptable in society," said head of the centre for women's studies at Goa University, Shaila De Souza.
But she cautioned that the raw data by itself may not be sufficient to analyse the divorce patterns in the state and a detailed study of the Census 2011 statistics is required for more definite answers.
Some marriage counsellors feel that an increasing number of Goans opting for jobs abroad could to be a factor linked to more divorce petitions being filed among certain sections. "With one spouse living abroad and the other left behind to care for the family, the physical and emotional distance between them increases," said a marriage counsellor.
The overall divorce and separation rates, as per the Census 2011 data, are the lowest in Goa in the country when statistics of individual states are compared. Goa's overall figures compared with those of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Maharashtra, with 11.85% of its population reporting to be either divorced or separated, has the highest rate of breakdown of a marriage, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 11.52% and Tamil Nadu at 11.27%.

TOI Goa News

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