The institution of marriage underwent a particularly rebellious and dramatic shift when women entered the work force. We're in the midst of trying to renegotiate what the marriage contract is - what men and women are supposed to do as partners. But the chips in these negotiations are often young children, emotionally fragile, economically vulnerable - for despite their work outside the home, most women still suffer a severe income drop after divorce. The by-product of what remains the world's highest divorce rate is millions of children thrown into poverty, millions more scarred by bifurcated lives and loyalties. Almost no one disputes there are many valid reasons for divorce - among them, domestic violence, child abuse and substance abuse.
Mere incompatibility seems reason enough, when no children are involved.
But the breakup of families is increasingly seen not only as a personal tragedy but also as a social crisis. Which may be why, suddenly, there seems to be so much attention being paid to preventing divorce. Certainly marital therapy has become big business in the past decade or so, though few hard figures are available. Some 4.6 million couples a year visit 50,000 licensed family therapists, up from 1.2 million in 1980. This is when many couples decide to bail out.