Many studies point out that the rate of divorce is increasing in the world. But there is a country where eight out of ten people who get married get divorced soon after. Do you know which country has the highest number of single parents? That country is Portugal. This social situation in Portugal did not happen overnight. On the contrary, it is something that has happened through changes in that society over time.
According to a recent study from the Social Issues Research Center, this social system flourished in Portugal during the Salazar regime (1932 to 1968). The Salazar administration is named after Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who was the prime minister of Portugal for 36 years. Salazar was an autocratic ruler who curtailed the country’s political freedoms and repressed rebels who turned against his rule. Even in the orthodox Catholic Church under the control of the Salazar regime, women were conforming to traditional ideas of motherhood.
Gradually, however, Portuguese women began to think more progressively. Women with higher education started working and earning their own income after having children. Also, the gender wage gap has disappeared in the country as women have advanced in terms of education. There has also been an increase in the age of marriage, which was previously 27 years. As women became self-sufficient, they began to give importance to their dreams and aspirations. And a large part of Portugal’s population does not see divorce as a crime. 87% of the population here are single parents raising their children alone.
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Compared to other European countries, Portugal has made significant progress in terms of women’s rights. And studies report that 8 out of 10 marriages end in divorce. According to UNIDOMO in 2020, the divorce rate in Portugal is 91.5 percent out of 100 marriages. This is the highest rate among other European countries.
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Even so, some things still need to change. It exists mainly in relation to the protection of children. The government has not yet made a provision for the protection of children under women’s control while they are at work. And there is still a social sense in the Portuguese that women are better at handling domestic and emotional work at home. Society is also engaged in attempts to increase the burden of women’s lives, consciously or unconsciously, by praising them as capable of multi-tasking. Trying to balance one’s work load and the responsibility of motherhood further complicates women’s social life.
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Last Updated Mar 8, 2023, 3:12 PM IST