How the Socio-cultural Context Shapes Women's Divorce Experience in Hong Kong

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND FRAMEWORKThe rising trend of divorce is a world-wide phenomenon. The impact of divorce can be felt by all parties concerned: the couple involved, the children, the families of origin, their work place, and social circle. Because of this growing tendency in the West, some family system theorists suggest that divorce and remarriage be considered part of the normative family life cycle (Carter & McGoldrick, 1999). While divorce is a phenomenon that affects fewer people in the East, including Hong Kong, its impact could be more profound because of its rarity.Whichever position one takes on divorce and no matter how rational and amicable the process is, it is no doubt a stressful event. In Holmes and Rae's social re-adjustment scale of stressful life events (1967), it is accorded one of the highest scores. Such an objective scale crudely measures the impact Distressful life events. However, according to the now classic cognitive framework of stress and coping postulated by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), the actual impact of a stress like divorce depends on individuals' subjective perception. Such perception includes the appraisal of an event as a loss, threat, or challenge, the stakes involved, and the perceived coping resources available. The authors further suggest that the meaning given to an event is very much culturally dependent.Due to its colonial status for over a century, Hong Kong is a special place where Eastern traditional Chinese culture meets Western values. Because of its proximity to Mainland China and the permeability of the boundary, it is also much affected by the rapid transition of its hinterland from a communist to a capitalistic economy. Divorce is a growing phenomenon in Hong Kong. Over a fifteen-year period (1984-1999), the number of divorces per 1,000 increased from 0.76 to 2 (Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, 1984-1999). It is an issue that cuts to the core of Chinese cultural value of familism (Lau, 1981 ; Lin, 1998) and involves tremendous economic implications. Given its particular social context, divorce is a worthwhile subject of study.This paper aims to examine how the historical socioculturel context of Hong Kong shapes the perception and thus the experience of divorce among Chinese women. We focus on women's experience given its greater impact on them compared to men. Women are more relational-based (Gilligan, 1982). Their self identity is more tied to their marital role and status (Jack, 1991; Haffey & Cohen, 1992), thus divorce has greater impact on their psychosocial adjustment (Symonds, 1985; Lund, 1990). Due to gender inequality in the economic realm and the unequal role assignment in families, women are at a greater economic disadvantage after divorce. Men usually are the major breadwinners while women take heavier roles in the non-paid child-rearing and domestic responsibilities. Women's economic vulnerability is often exacerbated after divorce since they are usually the custodial parents, feminization and juvenization of poverty becomes the consequence (Arendell, 1986; Carbone, 1994; Maclean, 1991 ;Weitzman, 1985).In the following discussion, we shall first examine the shaping forces of traditional Chinese values on divorce in Hong Kong and the changing notions of marriage and divorce over time with Westernization and modernization. Next, based on a qualitative study of divorced women, we look closely at the ways in which various social forces manifest themselves to influence contemporary women's divorce experience.THE HISTORICAL SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT OF HONGKONGTraditional Chinese Values on Marriage, Divorce, and RemarriageCentrality of FamilyUnder the influence of Confucianism, family is accorded the central place in Chinese society. Confucian's definition of the five basic human relationships in the classic Book of Rites are: ruler-minister, father-son, elder brother-younger brother, husband-wife, and friendfriend. …