Social factors influencing divorce among the married people: a case of west district, Zanzibar

This study examined the social factors influencing divorce among married people in West District, Zanzibar. It specifically analyzed the social factors which influence divorce among married people. It also examined the relationship between social factors and divorce. Lastly it evaluates the intervention measures of divorce. The study was carried out in West District. Zanzibar from November to December 2013. Data were collected from a sample of 332 married, divorced, separated people. The primary data were collected by using a questionnaire. The documentary reviews were used to collect secondary data. The IBM SPSS Version 16.0, bivariate, and multivariate tools were used to analyze the data. The findings from the study indicated that divorce increased and the reasons for that it was given by respondents as education, age at first marriage, poverty, and parity. Polygamy, unfaithfulness of husband/wife, conflicts with parents and consanguine marriage. In order to reduce the divorce in West District, deliberate efforts should be taken like the minimum ages at first marriage should be raised to 20 years for girls. And this should be done by educating girls and make secondary education to the compulsory. Secondly, deliberate efforts should be taken to raise women's status and the government should enable them to engage in skillful employment activities so as to limit dependence on men.