Women and children left vulnerable as Hong Kong's divorce rate rises
In the first of a two-part series on divorce, Darren Wee explains how grey areas in the law and a lack of enforcement of family support payments are leaving women and children from broken marriages especially vulnerable.
When Ah Lai finally signed her divorce papers in 2001 she thought it was the end of her abusive marriage. Instead, it turned out to be the start of a 13-year battle for social housing and maintenance payments that led her into a spiral of depression and even a suicide attempt.
Divorce contributes to the feminisation of poverty ... women are more prone to poverty because of their family status
Ah Lai is just one of thousands of women in Hong Kong who divorce to escape one bad situation, only to find themselves in another dreadful predicament or worse.
Census and family court data show the number of divorces in Hong Kong has shot up more than 10 times from 2,062 in 1981 to 23,255 in 2012. This means the crude divorce rate rose from 0.53 per 1,000 people aged 15 or above in 1981 to 3.27 in 2012, putting Hong Kong ahead of other Chinese societies and even many European countries.
Although divorce can rescue people from bad marriages, it can also erode a society's resilience. The emotional and psychological stress on children aside, divorce is more likely to impoverish households, especially those made up of mothers and children.
"Our divorce rate was very low 20 years ago but it has caught up with the West now," says Dr Paul Yip Siu-fai, professor of social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong and principal investigator of a research project on divorce in Hong Kong commissioned by the Central Policy Unit.
Some reasons behind the rising divorce rate are common to all modern societies: women are better educated and more financially independent than they were 20 years ago and there is less stigma attached to divorce, so they are more likely to call it quits when the marriage fails to work.
"In the old times, divorce was considered shameful in Chinese society, but now Hong Kong is modern and people are more open-minded," says Sze Lai-shan, a social worker and organiser at the Society for Community Organisation.
Other factors are particular to Hong Kong, such as added friction from living in small spaces, long working hours and demographic factors.
