Grain of science
IN 2004, John H. Johnson examined data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation in the US and concluded that gender has a significant influence on the relationship between work hours and probability of divorce.

According to Johnson, women’s work hours consistently increase divorce, whereas increases in men’s work hours often have no statistical effect. Women who worked outside their homes increased the risk of marriage failure, he explained. And the more the hours worked outside home, the higher the risk of divorce. “I also find that the incidence in divorce is higher in couples where both spouses are working, than in couples where only one spouse is employed,” Johnson says. Divorce cases are rising and social scientists are attributing it to the increased opportunity for women to access gainful employment.

A few other studies, which have focused on employment (as opposed to working hours), have concluded that working outside the home actually increases marital stability, at least when the marriage is a happy one.

But even in these studies, wives’ employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of “low marital quality.”

A review of the published literature reveals that highly educated people are also more likely to have had extramarital sex. Graduates have a higher risk than girls whose highest qualification is secondary school.