Legal endings of marriages where a couple separates and the marriage is officially dissolved by law.
From Old French 'divorcer,' derived from Latin 'divortere' (to separate), composed of 'di-' (apart) and 'vortere' (to turn). Literally means 'to turn away from each other.' Became a legal process in Western countries.
Divorce laws have changed dramatically over time—in many places, women couldn't get divorced at all until the last few centuries, so modern no-fault divorce is actually a very recent human invention!
Historically, divorce proceedings encoded male property ownership and women's legal non-personhood. Language around 'alimony' and 'settlement' reflects these gendered power structures.
Use 'divorce' neutrally; specify parties by name rather than pronouns like 'she took him for everything,' which encodes outdated gender stereotypes about greed.
["separation","dissolution"]
Women divorce judges, mediators, and family law scholars have transformed this practice from one-sided male-advantage proceedings to equitable frameworks.
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