Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Sex and Relationships
Rhianna Benson
There are all sorts of reasons someone might opt to divorce their other-half - infidelity, financial woes, parenting disputes, or simply drifting apart.
But what if we told you there's actually an even more common reason women end their marriages, and that's it's all to do with one of their husbands' most aggravating behaviours?
That's right, according to one marital lawyer, a lot of men are guilty of one particular trend which often sees them at the receiving end of divorce papers.
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And surprisingly, she says it's nowhere near as extreme as cheating and can definitely be avoided through a little bit of practice.
While studies show that the number of divorces per year have been rapidly decreasing since the year 2000, social media-friendly lawyer Sarah Corcoran strongly believes there's something that men should be avoiding if they're worried the magic within their marriage is starting to dim.
Claiming to know the '#1 mistake men make in marriage', the US-based solicitor shared her findings on TikTok, claiming that all most husbands need to do to ensure the quality of their marriage is play their part when it comes to housework.
"A spouse who never participates in household chores often breeds resentment in the other spouse," she explained.
"There’s not going to be one incident that results in some extreme fight that ends the marriage, it’s a slow burn."
Corcoran's assessment has also been discussed by Stanford University's professor of sociology, Michael Rosenfelt, who believes this forms part of the notion that marriage as an institution has been 'a little slow to catch up' with the rise and importance of 'gender equality'.
Speaking to the American Sociological Association, he said: "Wives still take their husbands’ surnames, and are sometimes pressured to do so.
"Husbands still expect their wives to do the bulk of the housework and the bulk of the childcare."
As such, Corcoran believes it's essential that men check at least one item off their wife's to-do list before going to bed each night.
"My advice to you guys out there — if you want to stay married, empty the dishwasher once in a while," she jokingly warned.
That said, however, the relationship guru's assertions have clashed with several other divorce claims made by experts, including by family lawyer James Sexton.
The New York City solicitor instead argued recently that the two main reasons for divorce nowadays are infidelity, or money issues.
Appearing on Steven Bartlett's Diary Of A CEO podcast recently, he explained that cheating is usually caused by a lack of sex, noting that 'men want more quantity sex, women want more quality'.
"It’s the same reason porn is more popular with men than it is with women — because men just want to get the job done," he explained.
And on the topic of finances, he continued: "Money has a lot to do with power. Money is about control. Money is about opportunity, security, it’s about a whole bunch of things, but it’s not really about money."