Pretty soon, though, events took a turn for the worse. Robert became distant and moody and Hanna discovered that he had been constantly cheating on her. After much mental struggle, Hanna decided to file for a divorce. She felt that she would rather be alone than with a man who did not love her anymore. She was sure she could survive without him and ultimately become a stronger, prouder, and happier woman.

Hanna was in for a rude awakening, for the world offered her a harsh reality, the opposite of the one she had so confidently envisioned. Since she had no work experience or a colleg

After the move, Hanna was faced with another shock. Instead of getting support and sympathy from her parents, she got disapproval. They believed she should have stayed with Robert, instead of putting herself into all this mess. Moreover, her children resented her for taking them away from their luxurious life; they made her feel that they would have been better off with their father. She even felt alienated from her friends since they were all happily married and preferred not to talk about unpleasant topics like divorce.

The woman in a marriage typically plays the role of the home keeper. She is the one who takes care of the kids and runs the household. Money matters are commonly left to the husband. He is the one who handles the house accounts and pays the bills. The woman usually does not work outside the house, especially if her husband is in a well paying job. This leads a her into being ignorant about the financial world, knowing little about money matters. So, should a woman get a divorce, she would find herself at loss on how to handle herself financially. She is used to relying one her husband for such issues, so she has no idea how to take care of money matters by herself.

Statistics show that one in two marriages will end up in divorce. This means that one in every two women will end up hopeless and helpless, not knowing how to survive without their man. True, the situation for divorced women is improving due to more public awareness brought by the Internet and the media. Still we have a long way to go before divorced women are treated with the respect they deserve. One should always remember that it takes a lot of courage, humility and strength to file for a divorce and start all over from scratch. This is why we should treat divorced women with the same respect and equality we treat any other member of society. Today, our society, the Arab society, still treats divorced women like outsiders. We women have to work and strive so that divorced women will know that they have nothing to be ashamed of, just a lot to be proud of.

Mai Nasser sums up the attitude that the Arab society forces on women by saying " I believe it is still better to endure the injustices of a husband rather than to bear the stigma of the label: Divorced women.

In reality, however, Hanna's story is the story of every divorced women. She is far from alone as divorced women all over the world face the problems she was going through and feel as helpless as she did. In this age and time, where the quest for women's rights is booming, divorced women are still a pariah, a social disease to be avoided.

Although, the Arab world has common aspects with the West in it's view of divorce, they differ in several issues. In the Arab world, divorce is still viewed as shameful and the divorced women brings dishonor to her family. Islamic law says that divorce is "abghad el halal" or the worst of the permitted. So, divorced women are treated accordingly.

The Lebanese society, being part of the Arab world, has a similar view on divorced women. Moreover, a divorced woman in Lebanon is seen as am

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Approximate Word count = 2104
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)