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The Probability of Divorce Incidence in Ghana: Theoretical Considerations

Research · February 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3906.2809

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 THE PROBABILITY OF DIVORCE INCIDENCE IN GHANA: THEORETICAL
CONSIDERATIONS

One aspect of the life cycle which is certain for most people is marriage. Marriage is
simply described as a union between two persons, and in our tradition, it is between a man
and a woman. Marriage as an institution is a sacred one which is protected by rites and
laws to regulate it. In most societies in Ghana elaborate ceremonies are performed to
signify the approval of the union between a man and a woman. The preparations and rites
associated with marriage are so well guarded to ensure that every marriage succeeds. And
once marriage is contracted it is presumed to be free from any impediments. As such
divorce was not a part of the original plan in marriage in societies in Ghana. Divorce was
therefore a rare event in any marriage in societies in Ghana.

Divorce is the separation of the husband and wife by mutual consent, or by religious rites
to unbind a bond between the partners, or by a judicial decree which confers on the parties
a right to remarriage. Divorce occurs in case of incompatibility between two persons, one
partner being a habitual drunk or a cheater on the other, childlessness, interference by in-
laws particularly mothers-in-law, infidelity, terminal illness, contraction of AIDS, loss of
jobs and high financial status, elopement of one partner, religious, political or cultural
differences, non-healthy sexual expression by one partner, and finally death due one
partner.

A consequence of divorce incidence is the attacks against the family and attempts at re-
defining marriage in contemporary society.

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, recently

presented the Instrumentum Laboris for the 2015 Extra-ordinary Synod of Bishops on
„The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization‟. He
acknowledged that the responses to the 39-point questionnaire sent to churches in
November 2013 (as Lineamenta) showed that “the threats to the family come from
everywhere, including social media, with family members spending more time checking
their smart phones and maintaining virtual relationships than with one another.”

The implication of this is that, with the impact of modernisation on societies of Ghana,
traditional institutions are undergoing some changes and marriage has also undergone
some changes. The elaborate preparations and rites associated with marriage have been
short-changed. Perhaps this explains the popular belief that divorce is more regular now
than it was in simple Ghanaian societies. The beautiful wedding gowns, page boys or
flower girls, the golden rings, the well-decorated cars and the sirens, maids of honour and
all the gorgeous celebrations and beautiful children born easily fade into oblivion and
replaced with hatred between husband and wife, between families and legal tussles take
over.
This latter gloomy image is the lot of the few who choose the option of divorce. Attempt is
being made now to explain off divorce. One such argument is from the perspective of the
life expectancy of modern humanity. Peter Weber writing in TheWeek.com (2014) cited
two researchers who wrote on „Conscious Uncoupling‟.

“Sadeghi and Sami start their conscious uncoupling treatise by noting that human life
expectancy rose from 33 years old in the upper Paleolithic period (50,000 to 10,000 BC)
to 46 in 1900 America, but then jumped to 76 (men) and 81 (women) today. "What does
this have to do with divorce rates?" they ask.”

The meaning of this last quote is that, in the past, medicine was not as advanced as today
which enabled couples to live shorter lives and so overcome the problems associated with
the incompatibility of longer living partners. The obvious conclusion is that divorce
should be made easy and the couples should be helped to plan to part ways honourably.
Well, adapting their treatise to Ghana, one can observe that the life expectancy of Ghana
according to the WHO is 61 for men and 64 for women, so Ghana does not fit into the
pattern described by the two researchers above.

DearAbby on yahoo.news writes about a developed economy under the title: “State of
modern marriage mirrors disposable society”. She observed that, “There is a tendency
among young couples, not only because of the high divorce rate, but also what they have
been exposed to in the media from the time they were born, to view marriage as something
that might not last. There is also a sense of entitlement among many -- not all -- that
makes them centered on themselves. We have become a society in which disposability has
spread from material possessions to relationships.”

Couples in Ghana in 2014 are equally exposed to this phenomenon, because these days,
the world has become a global village.

Lisa Haisha in 2014 writes under the caption: Is it time to change our views of adultery
and marriage? In her reflection she states: “Clearly the concept of marriage has changed
greatly over the years. And with today's rate of divorce between 40 and 50 percent,
coupled with the prevalence of adultery in many marriages, perhaps it's time for the
concept of marriage to continue to evolve. According to Associated Press, Journal of
Marital and Family Therapy, 41 percent of spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or
emotional. This leads me to ask, "Are we really supposed to be with just one person our
whole life? And if not, must we get re-married five times? Are there alternative ways to
perceive and participate in a marriage that will guarantee its success?"

In my estimation, this view expresses modern understanding based on relativity of values.

The answers to these questions were given by Jesus 2,000 years ago. He would say,
“Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but
from the beginning it was not so. … whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is
unlawful) and marries another commits adultery. … Not all can accept this word, but only
those to whom that is granted.” (Matt. 19: 8 – 11)
Divorce Incidence in Ghana

Stylized facts from surveys on marriage and divorce

The institution of marriage is a sacred one. Despite the challenges facing the Marriage
institution in contemporary Ghana, marriage is still a beautiful institution and many
couples manage to succeed and have rather overcome the events that lead to divorce. The
universality of marriage is still upheld in Ghana. Yet divorce is still the main obstacle to
the success of many marriages.

A study conducted in the UK in 2007 showed that the average duration of marriages was
seven months two weeks, and marriages that lasted ten years were more likely to succeed.
A study conducted in 2008 on marital dissolution in Ghana showed that divorce was more
likely with women with matrilineal ties than those with non-matrilineal ties.

For a developed nation like the US, two researchers discovered that, 59 per-cent of
marriages for women under the age of 18 end in divorce within 15 years. The divorce rate
drops to 36 per-cent for those married at age 20 or older. ("Cohabitation, Marriage,
Divorce and Remarriage in the United States," M.D. Bramlett and W.D. Mosher).

From another research finding, it was observed that, “children of divorce have a higher
risk of divorce when they marry, and an even higher risk if the person they marry comes
from a divorced home. One study found that when the wife alone had experienced a
parental divorce, her odds of divorce increased to 59 per-cent. When both spouses
experienced parental divorce, the odds of divorce nearly tripled to 189 per-cent.” (Journal
of Marriage and the Family).

In Ghana this last phenomenon is described by most people as „generational curse‟ and so
people resort to magicians and charlatans and miracle-creating pastors to go through
elaborate but expensive deliverance sessions.

Research on Ghana

The stylized facts stated above point to one big risk facing the Marriage institution, viz.
divorce. Based on figures from the various Population and Housing Censuses in Ghana
and other micro-research data from 1960 to 2010 one can discover a pattern of divorce
occurrence in Ghana.

In Ghana, marriage is universal and between man and woman. In a Population Data
Analysis Reports published by Ghana Statistical Service in 2005, there is a tendency of
early marriage in Ghana and this poses a higher risk of marital dissolution. The trend from
the data available indicates increasing proportions of both males and females staying out
of marriage even in older ages. Other clear relationships between age and marital status
are established. First, the proportion currently married increases with age. Second, the
median age at first marriage in Ghana has risen slowly over the last decades, from 18.7
years for women age 40 – 49 to 19.6 years for women age 25 – 29. Third, men generally
tend to marry later in life than women, and this cuts across all age groups.

Indicators of Divorce

A tabular view of divorce incidence is presented here:

DIVORCE STATISTICS FOR GHANA 1960 – 2010

AGE
1960 1993 1998 2000 2003 2010
15-19
1.35 0.5 0.05 0.7 0 0
20-24
3.15 3.25 0.9 1.45 0.55 0
25-29
4.4 6.1 2.5 2.45 1.7 0
30-34
5.85 3.95 3.5 4.05 3.55 0
35-39
6.7 7.75 4.65 5.05 4.65 0
40-44
8.5 6.75 8.2 6.55 5.4 0
45-49
9.95 9.15 9.65 7.8 6.7 0
50-54
11.85 1.55 2.3 9.4 1.3 0
55-59
12.2 0.7 2.95 10.3 2.55 0
60-64
13.05 0 0 11.25 0 0
65+
12.65 0 0 10.95 0 0
AVERAGE
6.2 4.7 3.4 4.8 2.65 3.4
Source: 1960 PES, 1998, 1998, 2003 GDHS, 2000 and 2010 Censuses

Interpretation of Table

Taking the example of the 2000 Census data, one can observe that of all those aged
between 15 and 19, 0.7% are divorced; of the 20 to 24 age group, 1.45% are divorced; of
the 25 to 29 age group 2.45% are divorced; from the 30 to 34 age group 4.05% are
divorced; from the 35 to 39 age group 5.05% are divorced; of the 40 to 44 age group
6.55% are divorced; from the 45 to 49 age group 7.8% are divorced. Additionally, in the
50 to 54 age group 9.4% are divorced; in the 55 to 59 age group 10.3 are divorced; from
the 60 to 64 age group 11.25% are divorced and of those above 65, 10.95% are divorced.
In conclusion one can infer that of all those in the marriageable age group in the
population in the year 2000, 4.8% are divorcees. Generally, on average, in 1960, 6.2% of
the number of persons in the sample chosen for the study were divorced; in 1993, 4.7% of
them were divorced, in 1998, 3.4% were divorced; in the 2000 Census 4.8% of those in
marriageable group were divorced, in the 2003 GDHS about 2.65% were divorced and in
the 2010 Census 3.4% of all in the marriageable age are divorced.

The general trend of the figures shows that as the age increases, the number of divorcees
increase. Whereas the ages increase uniformly, the divorcees‟ rate does not increase as
such, it rather tends to increase faster than the age. The pattern found from the data shows
that divorce increases with age.

From the data available, the divorce rate among married couples (i.e. number of divorcees
per 1,000 married persons) in the population is as follows: in 1960 there were 92 divorcees
per 1000 married persons; in 1993 there were 87 per 1000; in 1998 there were 72 per
1,000; in 2000 Census there were 97 divorcees per 1,000 married couples and in 2010
Census there were 79 divorcees per 1,000 married persons.

Further analysis showed that, if one takes the age-specific divorce rate for men and
women, interesting discoveries are made. For every 1,000 married men in the age group of
50 to 54, in 1960 there were 10 divorcees; in 1993 there were 3, in 1998 there were 5 and
in 2000 Census there were 9 divorcees.

Similarly, for every 1,000 married women in the age group of 50 to 54 in 1960 there were
24 divorcees and in the year 2000, there were 19 divorcees. If one compared the rates for
women against that for men, one can discover that there are more divorced women than
there were men, and there were twice more divorced women based on age specific rates
than men in the population.

From Accra Metropolitan Authority records, the following divorce statistics is presented:

Year Marriages Customary Divorces –cf. Customary

2006 3443 633
2007 1541 618
2008 2087 566
2009 2309 407
2010 3426 426
2011 4082 504
2012 4270 468
2013 2807 427
2014 Jan – April 204

There were 4,080 divorces from 2006 to 2014 April.

Conclusion
 The results from the data available depict a gloomy picture of marital instability in Ghana
in the 21st Century. One would be tempted like the disciples to ask: “Lord, if that is the
case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matt 19: 10) Notwithstanding the
experience of divorce, there are many more out there who succeed in marriage, they live
longer lives and manage their lives together and have children who follow after their
example. Lifelong marital unions are still possible and so pastors of souls must endeavour
to develop pastoral strategies to help the couples who are marrying. This would guarantee
more lasting unions. Additionally, since Jesus has raised marriage to a higher dignity of a
sacrament, marriage between two persons is “divinely anointed” and so the couple must
trust the one who anointed them.

FR. PAUL A. AGBODZA

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