How Is It That Female Gays Are Twice As Likely To Separate, Than Their Male Counterparts.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/grace-dent-how-come-its-lesbians-rather-than-gay-men-that-are-giving-up-on-civil-partnerships-8869715.html

[sandyRoe]

La Donna é mobile. (The woman is fickle)

[maggiebee]

Even ducks get bored paddling in the same puddle all the time!

[andy-hughes]

I think you'd have to seek some explanation from some gay women, rather than relying on statistics, which can be spun to say anything.

[jim360]

I don't understand her numbers at all. 794 couples in Civil Partnerships dissolving in 2012, of which 60% were between two women, does not match up to the next statistic of 3.2 to 6.1 even closely, surely? Civil partnerships are between legal same-sex couples only, so on the basis her next statistic should read "3.2 male couples to 4.8 female couples" rather than 3.2 to 6.1. And on the basis of my figures (which are based on the 60% of 794 statistic), the deviation is hardly worth commenting on. A 60-40 split when you only have about 800 samples looks to me to be within expected fluctuations really.

Anyway, I'm confused about what her point is, since it seems to be based on bad maths, but perhaps I am missing something.

[Baldric]

Well they can't be arguing over who leaves the Toilet seat where,
can they?

[sp1814]

jim360

Reading your post reminds me why I hated maths lessons, and why I was over the moon to scrape a grade C at O'level.

I will read it again...really slowly...

[Fitzer]

The original article (on which the above is merely a light-hearted comment) is here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lesbian-couples-twice-as-likely-as-gay-men-to-end-civil-partnership-as-divorces-up-by-20-8866454.html and the numbers seem to add up correctly, still statistically low numbers but all there is to go on since the partnerships were introduced.

[jim360]

Only if the numbers for male and female civil partnerships are equal, which is not established. Furthermore, that article says that in seven years, only 3.2% of male CPs and only 6.1% of female CPs have been dissolved. Numbers like that are so low that in fact is suggests that CPs overall are stable, although more time is needed of course. But that's a low "divorce" rate.

[Gromit]

I'm having trouble mking sense of the figures. The daily Mail report has the numbers...

// More than half the dissolutions recorded in 2012 ended female partnerships and women were almost twice as likely as men to break up a civil partnership.’ 

Overall, 455 female partnerships ended in 2012 and 339 male partnerships. //

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2450444/Gay-marriage-Civil-partnership-break-ups-approach-heterosexual-rate.html#ixzz2hJhDdvDP 

Perhaps less women than men enter into civil partnerships in the first place, so the fact divorces are only slightly higher compared to men, the are high when compared to the number of women marrying.

Difficult to as Why they are more likely to fail.

[joggerjayne]

That's the trouble with Verdi's women, sandy.

Bit flighty.

You wouldn't catch Sieglinde being fickle.

Well, maybe just a bit. But then, her husband was a bit of an arse.

[sp1814]

Yep...I'm with you jim360.

There were 794 dissolutions, of which 476 were those of a lesbian couple.

This means that 318 were dissolutions between male partners....so the comparative figures should be, as you say, 3.2 to 4.8 (rounding up).

So lesbian couples are more likely to split, but the figure is not 'twice as likely'.

As to why? It would be useful to see the figures in a wider context. In heterosexual relationships, what percentage of divorces are instigated by men, and what percentage by women?

[sp1814]

So overall only 10% of civil partnerships have been dissolved since the introduction back in 2005?

That's pretty impressive when compared to overall divorce rates. I suspect that part of this may be that gay couples enter CPs much older than their straight counterparts. Male CPs are 40 years old, while with women CPS, the average age is 37.6 years (figures from the Office of National Statistics).

[andrew1707]

I'll let the clever people do the arithmetic.

Here is my theory: Women are mostly responsible for the breakup of marriages with their unreasonable behaviour (I'll not go into the details of this here and now). THEREFORE when you have 2 women in a marriage then it stands to reason that the unreasonable behaviour will have doubled and that there is twice the chance of a breakup.....Simples.

[Fitzer]

The problem is that two sets of statistics are being used, one for the number of 'divorces' in 2012 and one for the total since inception. The 3.2 to 6.1% figures are for total since inception, whereas the 60-40 split(!) seems to refer to the 794 'divorces' in 2012 for which no other numbers are given.

[Gromit]

The figure we do not know is the split between the sexes of the total number of civil partnerships. If it is something like a third women and two thirds men, then a higher number of total divorces from a smaller number marrying will give a high per centage. Hope that makes sense.

I'm sure there must be someone who can work it out (approximately) now we have most of the figures.

[Fitzer]

The ONS report is here http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob2/civil-partnership-statistics--united-kingdom/2012/sty-trends-in-civil-partnerships.html

[Gromit]

Thanks for that Fitzer. That seems to confirm that more men than women enter into CPs.

So they contribute just over 50% of divorces from a lot less of the total.

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

/// Numbers like that are so low that in fact is suggests that CPs overall are stable, although more time is needed of course. But that's a low "divorce"
rate. ///

That is not in question, but what is however is the fact that Lesbians are more likely to separate from their 'other half' than male gays.

[sunny-dave]

Andrew - naughty step, or I'll fetch Susan :+)