DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Darin, a five-month-pregnant 19-year-old, returned to her mother’s home asking for a divorce less than two years after her marriage. She told her mother that her husband was unable to provide for the basic needs of their household, not even food, and that she was “starving.”
Darin told North Press that her husband is absent most of the time. He has a government job, which provides him with a salary of 100,000 Syrian pounds (equal to about $11), then he works another job in the private sector until 10:00 pm for a salary of 300,000 SYP ($34).
“The two jobs do not cover the rent of the house, which is 400,000 SYP ($45) despite its sorry state,” she said.
Her mother did not hesitate and went to court to file for divorce. Darin’s mother said those who cannot “provide for their wives should not marry.”
Financial reasons
Such cases are common, lawyer Samer al-Hassan, a pseudonym, told North Press.
He pointed out that there has been a “significant increase” in the number of divorce cases in courts, for various reasons, but the financial reasons tops the charts.
The lawyer stated that most of those who want to get divorced are young; most of them have recently gotten married.
The lawyer pointed out that there are no statistics about the rate of increase in divorce cases. Based on his experience, they are increasing year on year. In recent months, poverty and the collapsing economic situation have been the primary reasons for divorce, according to the lawyer.
Statistics
The Central Bureau of Statistics says that between 2012 to 2022 registered marriage contracts of Syrians at home and abroad reached 237,944, while divorces registered in 2021 reached 14,957, or 17.6 percent of all marriages.
The statistics showed that Aleppo headed the list of the registered marriages in 2021, with 53,715 marriage contracts and 8,568 cases of divorce, also the highest among Syrian governorates.
Coronavirus
The statistics at the Ministry of Justice show about 19,000 divorces for 2020. Authorities with good knowledge of the issue attribute this number to several reasons, including the ban on movement during the coronavirus pandemic which forced husbands to stay at homes.
But after that year, the deteriorating economic situation took the lead in increasing divorce rates. One judge in Damascus stated that one of the reasons for divorce is also “getting to know each other through social media, and marrying outside the country. Most of these relationships end in failure due to the lack of rapport between spouses.”
Marrying men from other Arab nationalities also contributes to such weak marriages, they say. Arab men seek to marry young Syrian women, who are forced to do so by their families under the pressure of material need or displacement. Given that most of these spouses are still girls, “these marriages often end in divorce as well, because these girls are teenagers and not qualified to manage households or understand husbands older than their fathers.”
The judge added to North Press that there are other reasons for divorce during the recent years of war, such as “the absence or loss of the husband.” He emphasized that problems related to the loss of husband are “very significant,” as the wife does not have any rights. Such wives are treated as if their husbands are still alive, “which is not the case.” This situation puts hundreds of wives in dire straits, especially those whose husbands have disappeared in conflict areas, many of whom are expected to be “defectors or deserters.”
The judge expressed his belief that the structure of Syrian society has “changed significantly,” with a decline in moral values. He pointed out that there is a spike in cases where husbands exploit their wives for prostitution, “which is a major sin, and some of them justify that by citing their poor living conditions.”
Illegitimate
One widow who was having an affair with a married man tells North Press, “I have two children, and my husband died in the war. I cannot secure their expenses, which led me to establish relationships that are not intended to satisfy physical needs, but rather to help me with expenses.”
She says that she got involved in an extramarital relationship with a man, which led him to end his relationship with his wife after she found out about it.
One of the problems facing women in Syria is the low number of males compared to females, as most young men either have died, disappeared or fled the country to evade conscription or to look for a better future. This, in turn, has increased polygamy.
Khaled Jandia, a third judge in Damascus, said that there has been an increase in divorce cases recently, as well as in cases of polygamy due to the scarcity of men compared to the number of women. “This has forced women to accept marrying already-married men, which, generally speaking, was rejected previously.”