“How is it possible that nearly half of marriages end in divorce and I don’t know a single person going through one?” As a psychotherapist who specializes in helping women navigate the emotional impacts of divorce, I hear this question all the time. In large part, this is why I lead in-person divorce support groups. We need to talk about divorce.

Just as every marriage is unique, every divorce is as well. Yet many divorces follow a similar trajectory, and most of the feelings women experience during that process are universal. Initiating a divorce is always heartbreaking and stressful; it was never the plan. The legal and financial aspects are often expensive and daunting. And yet, despite the pain of going through a divorce, many women emerge on the other side stronger, happier and more empowered.

Societal norms around gender and heterosexual marriage continue to have an enormous impact on how we structure relationships and family life. The benefits of heterosexual marriage are often unevenly distributed between men and women, especially after the couple has children. While women have worked toward equality in many realms, significant gender inequality persists in income, parenting, and household labor.

Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics underscores this imbalance. According to the American Time Use Survey, women in heterosexual marriages spend more time than men caring for children at every stage of development. When children are under six, women spend more than twice as much time physically caring for children and four times as much time providing educational activities. When children reach school age, mothers spend three times longer than fathers organizing educational activities and nearly twice as much time transporting children to school and activities.

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Housework follows a similar pattern. A University of Michigan analysis found that the average heterosexual woman........

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