Divorce in the United Arab Emirates The Arab family can be described as pyramidally hierarchical, with regard to age, sex and extended. The Arab society marriage it is only designed and approved for procreation and parenting. Also, it is not regarded as a simple agreement between the two newly married, but rather as an agreement between their respective families. Hence, their marriage is carefully observed by their families and subjected to a number of severe regulations, strict procedures and boundaries meant to prevent its failure. However, marriage failure it is highly encountered in the Arab world in generally, and in the UAE it is recorded the highest divorce rate in the Arab golf. (El-Saadani, 2006). According to a study conducted by the Marriage Fund (2009) more than a fifth of the UAE marriages end up in divorce.

Aim and methodology

The aim behind conducting the present review is to present the divorce procedure in the UAE and to emphasize some of the major reasons of the divorce phenomenon in UAE and its impacts on both members of the family and society. There is little research literature that can be found on the divorce in the UAE topic, let alone its causes and effects. Hence, the current paper attempted to explore the dynamical factors of divorce and its spurs in the society. The paper also provided a review of such factors in current literature and presented the most common reasons that led to the emergence of the factors behind divorce. In order to do so, the writer conducted an in-depth review of internet-based academic papers and online articles and demographic surveys on subject.

Literature review

The last decade has brought a rapid change in the UAE society regarding the family structures and traditional rules of marriage. Due to economic and industrial progress new formed families no longer stay together with their parents, and women started to find themselves jobs outside the house. The pressures of modern life have helped to the rising of the divorce rate in the Arab emirates.

According to Al Gharaibeh and Bromfield (2012) the social changes that accompanied the economic development of the UAE have strongly influences the culture of Emirati people, among which their traditions and values. They argue that besides the economic benefits an increase of social problems, including divorce has been noticed in the last couple of decades.

In a qualitative study by Sabban (2009), cited by Pathak (2013) the main reasons listed by the divorced couples for their parting are infidelity, financial issues, religious and cultural differences, poor communication, the lack of a support system and the unrealistic expectations created before the marriage.

Sabban (2009) argues that extramarital relationships are the foremost cause of divorce in the UAE. The act of adultery is considered by Islam the worst sin regarding the violation of the marital act. The study shows that 46 per cent of the divorces in UAE were initiated due to an act of infidelity.

The same study argues that financial problems also have a major impact on divorce. The low income of the married couple creates difficulties in getting a house and starting a family. It also created disparities among the married couple, 45 per cent of divorced people reported that they wanted financial independence and refused to help to the other partner.

Religious and cultural traditions are another major cause of the increased divorce rate in the UAE. A strong emphasize is shed upon the issue of fixed marriages and how they influence the divorce rate. In analyzing the divorce trend, it was noted that most divorces occurred in the "engagement" period or during the first two years of marriage. This is probably related to the nature of such marriages, which are usually arranged marriages where parent often push their children into getting married. Unlike the Western world couples, the Arab couples discover each other after the "engagement" or during the early period of marriage (Barakat, 2010).

A more trenchant article published by the Marriage Fund in 2009 ascribe the high divorce rate in the UAE to the lack of love at the start of the relationship, the issue of polygamy and to the high rate of violence. Also, the same study argues that the poor living standards and lack of financial support plays an important part in a divorce decision.

Polygamy is widely described as a critical reason for divorce. It is considered that the main reason for polygamy it is represented by the inability of women to have children (Barakat, 2010). Although is not their fault, the inability...

Also, men tend to find themselves younger wives when the current one reaches an older age. (Marriage Fund Survey, 2009).
In a qualitative study, conducting one-on-one in depth interviews Al Gharaibeh and Bromfield (2012) found several causes at being relevant to the increasing rate of divorces in the UAE. Thus it was shown that the early marriage age among Emirate women represents the main cause of divorces; with 31, 5% of the divorced women having been married before the age of 15. It was argued that many marriage cases end up in divorce because couples lack experience regarding the problems they face when they start their new lives.

Among other causes listed one can find the lack of communication skills between the married couples, tensions between family members, a high level of bride's education or the husband's physical or psychological abuse (Al Gharaibeh and Bromfield, 2010).

From a legal perspective the divorce in the UAE is regulated by Sharia, the moral code and religious law of Islam, which although it makes divorce permissible it requires a judge that should be fully convinced that the respective marriage will not work. Also, the Sharia courts in the UAE accepts divorce appeals from both muslim and non-muslim men of any nationality, and of non-muslim women, but they hardly accept divorce appeals from muslim women (Al Jandaly, 2013). Any couple asking for a divorce receives counseling and is given a three months period to resolve their differences before the process begins. While any motivation of a man requiring a divorce is taken into account (he can even tell her by the phone or through a written letter that he wants a divorce) for a woman to be granted a divorce evidence that her husband has physically mentally abused her should be provided. Also a woman may require a divorce if her husband leaves her alone for a period of three months or if he has not fulfilled his duty of care to her or their children (Al Jandaly, 2013).

Findings

Regarding the impact of divorces in UAE, El-Saadani (2006) argues that the impact of a divorce affects both partners but in different proportion, namely the woman carries the higher burden and acquires a poor image due to the stigmatization existing in the Arab society. In the Arab society the divorced women lose their freedom and dignity, become a vulnerable group who must bear an emotional, social and financial burden and who lacks any kind of support and returns to the authority of their elders. That is because a woman success in life is associated with the stability of their marriage and any other aspects, such as parenting or a successful working career comes second and does not compensate for their marriage failure (Barakat, 2010). However, despite the above mentioned issues in the last decade 43 per cent of the times it was the woman who initiated the divorce (Crabtree, 2007).

Divorce is one of the most serious social problems in the UAE. For several reasons, it became rapidly a rising trend and it affects all levels of society. The divorce rate in the United Arab Emirates is rising due to various reasons. The main risks of divorce are associated with cultural and religious differences, low level of education, urbanization or financial problems. Inability to bear children has also been found to be a strong threat to marital stability. Furthermore, the majority of divorces take place within the first years of the marital life.

Discussion and conclusion

The current paper has approached only a partial coverage of the phenomenon. Issues such as different social class belonging, age discrepancies or c has not been discussed among the cases due to lack of literature on topic. The compatibility issue has also been left out as well as problems that may arise due to age gap or dissimilarities in attitudes, interests, beliefs or values.

Furthermore while the divorce's impact on women has been discussed, the impact on children has not been emphasized although it is argued by El-Saadani (2006) that children of divorced parents are the main victims of the breakup.

Despite lately interest in the field still little is known about the Arab families in the contemporary age. The research is still scarce and at an early stage, particularly from an anthropologic and sociological point-of-view (Schavaneveldt et al., 2005)