More Jewish women than men refuse divorce

It is more likely that a Jewish woman will refuse to divorce her husband than a Jewish man will refuse to divorce his wife, according to recent research.

A study conducted by Israel's rabbinical courts entitled 'Why is the couple not yet divorced?' has found that of the 942 open divorce cases in Israel, 20 per cent involve men who are being refused divorce, while 19 per cent involve women who are being refused a divorce.

It was also found that of the agunots (women who are refused or unable to divorce), only 69 were recorded as living in Israel in 2007, as were just 25 of the men who were refusing their wives a divorce, Ynetnews.com reports.

According to the authors of the study, the findings seem to question the popular conception that many women in Israel are being denied a divorce by their estranged husbands.

Commenting on the findings, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, director-general of the rabbinical courts, said: "There is no factual basis behind claims that there are thousands of women refused divorce in Israel. According to the data that we have presented, there are only 942 open cases in Israel; therefore any other claim is fictitious."