The United States has led the world’s rankings of divorce, being in the top three with the highest rate for decades. Since the 1970s divorces have been easily obtainable and to date, all states have some form of law or act enabling couples to file for divorce regardless of there being any evident issue in the marriage. In 1867, the government began keeping track of the divorce rates, which were relatively low then. A family’s status and ability to produce enough money, which is often dependent upon the health of the economy, has historically played one of the greatest roles in rising divorce rates. With robust salaries and a stable household, families who are troubled with all sorts of differences or circumstances are more likely to consider a divorce because of their ability to afford one. However, it is the role of the woman and the more recent shift in family structure that has played the biggest part in divorce over the course of the last century. The new confidence and power women have found in themselves continue to keep divorce rates alive. Throughout the 20th century the rates of divorce in the United States, fluctuated, especially during the expansion of women’s rights, post war, and economic stability. The divorce rates of the 20th century were most greatly affected by 19th amendment, World War II and the “Sexual Revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s, which all caused rising divorce rates.
The first wave of women’s feminism picked up significant momentum during the first World War and empowered women across the country, culminating in the long awaited 19th Amendment that was ratified in 1920. By then, the divorce rate was at 16 percent, up from 10 percent before the start of World War I. At the end of World War I in 1918, the United States divorce rates increased with the homecoming of soldiers and a healthy economy promoted by wartime industry production. The absence of 4.7 million American men deployed over the course of the war, strained many marriages as a result of the time spent apart and changes in the roles of both parties, men and women. Women’s roles changed as they went to work to fill jobs left behind by the men and claimed new ones, working in factories of war material production. Though some women left their posts at the homecoming of their husbands, others still remained and continued to earn. The ability for women to earn their own living allowed them to enter the public sphere of society and become less dependent on their spouse. Upon the end of the war, both the men and women in relationships had changed significantly, and often the differences were irreconcilable.
The 19th Amendment, contributed to the rise of divorce through the empowerment of women. In 1920, with the approval and encouragement of then President of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which granted women all across the country their undeniable right to vote, regardless of their gender. This was a major accomplishment for the women of first wave feminism who originally began their campaign for suffrage at the end of the 19th century. The amendment promoted female empowerment and proved to them that they truly had a voice that mattered. By granting women the right to vote, the government outwardly acknowledged that women are equal to men and retain autonomy over their own decisions.
World War I served as a precursor to the 19th Amendment by creating an atmosphere that was conducive to discussions like those pertaining to women’s suffrage. The economy was flourishing as the war had promoted industry which increased the amount of money in circulation. Working women contributed financially in their relationships and couples were more financially stable than they had been in the last decade. Divorce could be affordable, which allowed it to gain momentum. As the divorce rates grew, marriage rates dipped significantly, preventing an even larger number rate of divorce from developing. The rates of divorce would continue to slowly increase until the 1930s with the onset of the Great Depression when couples no longer had the financial stability which had followed the war in the 1920s and women’s rights expanded less rapidly.
The end of World War II brought the country out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, and provided couples with the necessary financial security to consider divorce as a possibility. More important, was the improvement in the image of females, who were now more than ever seen as capable beings who were strong and able to work the same jobs as their male counterparts. Through the end of the 1940s divorce rates escalated and saw increases like never before in United States’ history. The war had drafted 12 million men, or the equivalent of 9 percent of the entire U.S. population was away fighting. An additional 6.5 million women went to work during World War II, and by 1945 they accounted for a little over 36 percent of the labor force. Before the war in 1939 the rate of divorce was at 19 percent, the year after the war ended, in 1946 the rate was up to a staggering 43 percent. With new employment in the workplace, women were bringing in steady incomes of their own and didn’t need their partners for financial security. The era almost entirely mirrored and magnified the events of World War I with rates being on the rise for similar reasons, but on a much larger scale.
Popular culture, such as Rosie the Riveter, personified and inspired women to take control of their own lives. Rosie the Riveter, first mentioned in the song of the same name, written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb with Paramount Music Corporation in New York, released in 1943 became an instant hit and gained popularity on the radio, liberating women across the country. The song tells the story of Rosie, who is a young woman “part of the assembly line…working for victory.” Like many women, Rosie had a significant other on the front lines. Rosie’s image encouraged the real women of World War II to take action and do their part for the war effort by going to work. Norman Rockwell depicted this same Rosie later in 1943, in the Saturday Evening Post, which was distributed throughout the country. Shortly after, images of women with similar work outfits: bandannas around their heads and collared shirts, surfaced, supporting the idea that the image had empowered and encouraged women in the workforce. Rosie was not just an image, she was an icon, a symbol who was the culmination and representation of every day women at work during the war years. Dorothy Kelley was a welder at the the South Portland shipyards in Maine through the end of WWII in 1945. She was a divorced, single mother, with four dependent children. She saw herself in the strength and grace of Rosie, as she worked hard, long hours welding ships. Rosie embodied the image of a new woman, who was strong, smart, and able to stand independently and divorced from a male partner.
A culture of rushed marriages developed as war loomed ahead and men awaited deployment. Unlike World War I, following World War II marriage rates swelled to overwhelming rates. Beginning in the 1940s and through the end of World War II many couples rushed to the altar before the men were deployed. In 1942, marriages increased by 83 percent in comparison to the previous decade. Tom Brokaw, an American journalist and published author, wrote in his book, The Greatest Generation, “Most of these relationships were forged when the world was a dangerous place and life was uncertain. Couples were forced to confront the profound emotions and passions that come with the reality of separation and the prospect of death.” These “forged” marriages would quickly unravel and result in the divorces seen through the end of the 1940s.
The sporadic increase in birthrate following the war, would prove to have the greatest impact on divorce in future decades. At the time the effects of the marriage rates were short lived on the divorce rates, which began a steep decline at the start of the 1950s. However, the marriage rates would result in more long term divorce changes. With marriages, especially those right after the end of the war in 1945 and towards the end of the decade and into the next, birth rates also skyrocketed. Known as the “Baby Boomers”, these were the children of many hasty post war marriages and came between 1945 and 1964, and would be the generation with the highest rates of divorce to come.
Divorce rates rose during the “Sexual Revolution” as more women joined the workforce participated in movements to expand their rights, and gained new liberties. Beginning in the 1960s and through the following two decades, women were focused on promoting and achieving monumental change for themselves in all aspects of their lives. Men were less involved in social movements than before, and women were able to take center stage to advocate for what mattered most to them: fair treatment in the workplace, politics, and their reproductive rights.
Women confidently joined the workforce in pursuit of securing stability for themselves. In 1960, 38 percent of women were employed in comparison to 33 percent in the 50s, and the the numbers were on the rise. By 1970, close to 45 percent were at work and in 1980 over half of women were in the work place. Women’s jobs were changing as well. In 1960, women were most commonly employed as nurses, teachers, and secretaries. Obtaining a professional degree was particularly difficult, for respectable institutions were not accepting many women, if any. In 1963, John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in hopes of closing the ridiculous wage gap between females and their male counterparts. Then, women were making 59 cents for every man’s dollar and each year after the law was enacted their earnings would grow by half a cent until they plateaued towards the end of the century. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, things began to look up even further. The act made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex included. Women were graduating college and the pay gap was narrowing. These laws were monumental because for one of the first times in history many women brought home enough to stand on their own. Independently, they could be financially stable. Not only this, but divorce could also prove to be more affordable because of increased income. Women were taking over the workforce and rewriting laws in their favor. The culture and the American sense of family changing, and fewer and fewer men and women were taking to the altar.
In 1965, contraceptives were becoming more popular and ubiquitous. The pill, in particular, was a common choice made by women, which allowed them to delay marriage without fear of becoming pregnant. Approved by the FDA in 1960, by 1965 6.5 million women were on the pill making it the most popular choice of contraceptive. The pill allowed women to get higher degrees in their education and stay at work for longer. Women were getting professional degrees for becoming lawyers, dentists, doctors etc. 30 percent of the increase between the 70s and 90s is attributed to the availability of birth control. Additionally, women had more liberty than ever before to have serious relationships without fear of conceiving. “Shotgun marriages”, the result of unexpected pregnancies, decreased because of the rising popularity of contraceptives. According to the journal, titled “Marriage and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces”, by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, of University of Pennsylvania, “couples marry, and stay married, when the gains from marriage exceed the gains from being single”. Inversely, couples end marriages, and divorce, when divorce is not significantly less profitable and being single is even more profitable or peaceful. Women could work freely and date freely securing themselves good financial futures that would allow the liberty to divorce if need be. Often, being single and open to meeting people, while earning a steady income, outweighed being committed in a two income household because being independent was more appealing to the current generation, the Baby Boomers.
Women who specialized in their career, who in turn made more money, were also less likely to marry. Women of the “Sexual Revolution” had more resources in their lives and felt empowered and comfortable in leaving their marriages when necessary. The upward climb in divorce rates would begin in the mid 1960s at 23 percent and finally peak in the 1980s at 50 percent. During the period most states passed no fault laws, the first being California in 1969, which made a divorce a lot easier to get.
Women were not alone in their liberty to have “loose” relationships. A sort of trend of the 1970s, open relationships and even open marriages were in their “Golden Age”. However, the problems came to the later, those who chose to settle down in committed relationships, but still continued their single-life behaviors. When the reality finally set in, many marriages dissolved because of couples’ inability to commit to each other. More and more, people were “refocusing their lenses” and shifting towards a new focus of “individual fulfillment and personal growth”. Men and women alike were setting aside their feelings and obligations to others, to do what was best for themselves. In 1962, over 50 percent of women agreed that if parents were unhappy, they should stay together if only for the sake of their children’s wellbeing. In 1977, in the midst of the “Sexual Revolution” only 20 percent still agreed. Couples’ relationships took priority over their responsibilities like children. Single households were also more commonly accepted so there was less concern for women as to how they would be able to continue on without a partnership. Baby Boomers saw their marriages fall apart, like those of their parents, as 50 percent of those married in the 70s and 80s would end in divorce within 25 years.
Never has the divorce rate in American history plateaued, grown, decreased at a steady rate. Too many factors affect the numbers for them to ever have the opportunity to be constant. Wars, especially those on the international stage, affect the economy and in turn, the divorce rates. The larger the war, the greater the impact. World War II was significantly more impactful divorce rates were also significantly higher. Revolution, of the social variety, causes shifts in the American culture and mindset, which in the case of the “Sexual Revolution” completely changed the definition of a family. Throughout United States’ history the divorce rates have grown in times directly associated with expansion of women’s rights. Through continuous empowerment and more liberty women are able to take control through divorce. The 19th Amendment, World War II, and the “Sexual Revolution” of the1960s and 1970s resulted in the greatest increases of American divorce history in the 20th century because of the mobilization of women.