After twenty years of marriage Mrs. Mina Bubuka takes the decision to get a divorce which as she says it herself was a very difficult one. “The children were in the puberty in 2003 when I decided to get divorced and I was not working and had no income. It took me three years to manage to get back on my feet which would have been a lot shorter term if I was working.” According to information of the Institute for mental and sexual health in February 2010 the divorces increased by 11,4% compared to February 2009. According to the same research the first step in most cases is done by the women – 70% of the applications have been filed by the representatives of the fair sex.
The economic independence as Mrs. Bubuka says gives strength to the women to make the step towards dissolving of the marriage. “May be it sounds like a cliché, however it is important that the women can live without having the need of the men’s help. A wasn’t working and I had no money of my own which prevented me from making the decision go get divorced faster and decisively, when I found out that we cannot live together with my husband.”
In the past the divorce was related to the economic stability most of all of the wife, who didn’t have good positions on the labor market at that time, points out the psychologist Niki Zarkada. “Even at present many women and men remain married especially if they have children because they cannot manage on their own to raise their children in terms of money. According to the data 35% of the women who make the step to get divorced work in the government sector.” The security which the stable monthly income offers, according to Mrs. Zarkada, is the motor and a required condition in order for one to survive the economic crisis we are passing through. Half of the men who are getting divorced are freelance entrepreneurs, businessmen and have high incomes.
The divorce in Greece might be “women’s work” as in 7 out of 10 cases the women are the ones to make the first step, however they have a much harder time in the period during and after the separation then men do. About 30% of the women have mental disorders and 22% of them are under stress. These are not the only consequences for the psyche of the woman after the dissolving of the marriage. According to researchers 14% of the women have long term psychological problems. “The economic crisis cannot decrease the number of divorces as the conditions of tension drive the problems on the surface – something which we cannot or do not want to see when everything goes well” says Mrs. Kondili.
However the marriage on the other side helps for the better mood and increases the length of life, but also the weight! According to another research the married couples have two or three times more chances of gaining weight. According to the scientists who have questioned 17 341 Greeks at the age between 17 and 70 years old, the marriage is responsible for the fat around the belly. It is indicative that the appearance of the fat around the belly is three times higher for the married men and two times higher for the married women writes an article of the Ta Nea newspaper.