JEDDAH, 5 August 2007 — It is becoming more and more common to hear about young couples, some with young children, getting divorced after one or two years of married life. Coming across a 20-something divorcee is not strange anymore.

In the Western Region, 62 percent of marriages end in divorce, with a large percentage of those divorced being under 25.

Some parents think that as long as they are financially able to support a son to get married, then he is ready to build a home and start a family. “It does not go that way,” said Suzan Ismail, a 21-year-old divorced young woman with a nine-month-old baby girl.

Ismail believes she was too young when her father decided to get her engaged to his friend’s son, who was 21 and who she only saw once. “I was only 18 and I thought being good-looking and being from a rich family was enough to make a happy marriage,” she said.

Ismail said she did not have time to think about the marriage. Everything was prepared for her, including her wedding gown, the guests’ list and the wedding party. In fact, she did not mind and was happy at being the first to get married from among her female cousins and friends.

“During the first two or three months we were living happily. It felt like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. We didn’t know what was coming until I became pregnant. I felt that my husband was far away from me. He also began shying away from the responsibility of being a dad after I gave birth and started staying out for long hours with his friends,” she said.

She added that they began fighting, as her husband was not helping her look after the baby and, being unable to cope and inexperienced, she had to get her mother to help.

A few months later the couple were divorced and Ismail came to live with her parents. “I was wrong to get pregnant two months after getting married. I didn’t know him well and maybe I would’ve fixed my life without divorcing if I were more mature, older and understood his fears. I learned that being able to build a house does not mean being able to build a family and home,” she added.

Khaled Abu Rashid, a Saudi lawyer, said that with a huge number of divorce cases, law firms in Saudi Arabia are burdened with work and end up turning away cases.

“Divorce among young couples is increasing,” he said, adding that a lot of his clients are between 18 and 22 and that many disputes revolve around child custody.

“Children are the victims of divorces. Some couples get divorced when the wife is pregnant and children are born to find their parents separated or divorced,” said Abu Rashid.

Abu Rashid believes some people are careless when getting married. Children are brought up to do what parents feel is best and when they get married then they find it difficult to make their own decisions.

“Parents also play negative roles in advising their children. Fathers tell their married daughters to leave their husbands when marriages become rocky. They tell them they’re welcome to stay at their house, while husbands are told by their dads that they’re allowed to divorce and at liberty to marry 10 other women,” said Abu Rashid.

The lawyer also believes that television has negatively affected the way girls think. “Women can become displeased with their life and marriage by watching television. A husband can also become unsatisfied with his wife’s looks after he continuously sees other women on television,” he said.

Abu Rashid believes the problem lies in getting married early. “Fathers must evaluate their sons and train them to take life head-on. They need to see if they’re responsible before letting them marry. It is the women and children that end up suffering when couples get divorced,” said Abu Rashid, adding that it is a weak argument to marry an immature son “to ensure his chastity.” “People need to think beyond the wedding gown and wedding party.”