Although divorce is generally stigmatized in American society, national divorce rates have been rising and are continuing to increase. Autonomy is a respected value in the American culture as supported by the current trend in divorce. Originally, marriage was a contract essentially binding a woman to her husband, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, until death did they part. Marriage was just another patriarchal establishment in an already male dominated society.

As Peter Kramer believes, "[Autonomy] was a value for men only, and largely it was pseudoautonomy, the successful man propped up by the indentured wife and overburdened mother." Women were bound to their husbands, quietly making their men look good without complaining or asserting themselves. Then, the feminist movement was established, granting women equal rights in political, social, and domestic settings. Women, no longer repressed by an overbearing male society, were free to make their own decisions, including choices concerning marriage.

Not only was the female population allowed to decide whom they would marry but now if they would marry at all. Previous social expectations were virtually eliminated. Being a single woman was no longer criticized or stigmatized. As such, if the choice to marry was made but a woman found herself in a negative, unhealthy relationship, she was no longer expected to remain silent under a domineering male hand but allowed to divorce him. In the spirit of equality, husbands who found themselves in similar situations were also able to divorce their wives.

However, divorce was not looked upon favorably. Marriage was still considered a sacred institution between a man and his wife. The outdated concept of a patriarchal union, as marriage still is because the wife takes the last name of her husband instead of him taking hers or neither changing their surnames, no longer has a place in a autonomous society concerned with equality. Divorce can only be eliminated if the outdated institution of marriage is also eliminated.