People are frequently told to make plans as though their marriage will not last. For instance, many significant types of human capital—knowledge and skills—specific to relationships are beneficial if an individual stays with one’s current spouse but would not transfer to the next spouse. According to Mills, acting in a way that suggests a relationship will not endure prevents the development of such relationship-specific human capital (Pötzsch, 2021). This can increase the likelihood that the relationship will end, at least in part. Additionally, according to Mill, discussing divorce can be unpleasant because doing so can come out as disparaging one’s divorced acquaintances. However, just like filing for bankruptcy, getting a divorce is a failure. After a business loss, people frequently get back up and succeed, but this does not make a business failure a good thing in and of itself (Pötzsch, 2021). Like how people frequently bounce back from divorce and build fulfilling lives for themselves after that (sometimes with a second marriage, sometimes without), a divorce itself was not a positive thing until something worse than a divorce occurred or was made public before the divorce.
The United States has a divorce rate of 49.5%, closely followed by the United Kingdom at 30.8% (Bae et al., 2022). The ease of ending a marriage for any reason is quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. People who adhere to Western ideologies and interpersonal practices tend to have a more legalistic perspective. It may be assumed that not much more needs to be said about John Stuart Mill’s feminism, given how much has already been saying about it. To assert that Mill’s feminism was entirely unaffected by feminist literature, discussion, and experience over the past 150 years would be both historically improbable and philosophically incorrect.
However, Mill is likely not accountable for all the errors, misconceptions, contradictions, conservatisms, or misogyny that have been levelled against him. He was devoted to making women full citizens in a future society that is considerably equal, diversified, free, and peaceful. However, like everything else, Mill’s feminism is complex and complicated. Marriage is a social institution and it defines parenthood. Families are often affected by divorce both ideologically and financially. It is fundamental for couples thinking about marriage to undergo severe psychological counselling to ensure they develop delinquent behavior. Pre-marital counselling can reduce the rate of divorce globally.
Reference
Bae, S., Graham, J. E., Nam, S., & Hong, I. (2022). Association between divorce and access to healthcare services among married immigrants: Propensity score approaches. Archives of Public Health, 80(1). Web.
Pötzsch, J. (2021). The early J.S. Mill on marriage and divorce. Symposion, 8(2), 175–185. Web.