A lot of people, muslim or non-muslim, always have second thoughts about the fact that only men are allowed to divorce their wifes unconditionally. Obviously women are allowed to divorce their husbands in exceptional cases, like physical abuse (through an Islamic judge).
Just a couple of days ago, after watching a video on how men and women process breakup and reading more about it, did I realize the greatness behind this seemingly "unequal" rule.
Before I actually explain how men and women differ on how they handle their breakup. I first want to make it clear why God makes things haram for us. In most cases it is simply because it is BAD for us. Things like alcohol, gambling and murder are bad for the individual and society as a whole. Pretty obvious, but let that sink in before you begin reading the next paragraph.
So why would Allah give men the right for divorce, but not to women? According to a study released in 2015 in the Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences by Craig Morris, research associate at Binghamton University and lead author on the study. Men and women differ in their ability to fully recover from breakups.
"women ultimately tend to come out emotionally stronger, whereas men never really, truly get over it—they just find another mate."
There could be a couple of reasons for this, the first thing that comes to my mind is that women simply had to adapt, men used to die rather quick back in the day (Khadija RA was widowed 2 times before marrying Mohammed pbuh at the age of 40), while men generally died much earlier than their wifes. In other words, while men were polygynous, women were more of a serial monogamist.
Another interesting finding in the study, was that
"Interestingly, women were also more likely to
do the breaking up than men—despite facing a more painful road to recovery. The researchers point out that this finding backs up previous research showing that
women initiate divorce in 70 percent of legal cases."
Again, this has to do with biology. Since women fully recover from breakup and also since they have more to lose if they get pregnant (when men could literary disapear and never been seen again. It still happens, but much much less).
So back to the ruling of Allah, as to why only men have the right for talaq. I think you already know the answer, but I'll spell it out anyway. The only time a men would divorce his wife, is when he rather has his hearth permanently damaged, than to stay married to that particular women. I.e, it has to be a damn good reason.
Edit:
Now, let the fight begin ;D