More Nepalese women 'unhappy with sex lives'

Rising numbers of Nepalese women are divorcing their husbands because they are unhappy with their sex lives.

But officials are blaming reckless modernisation in Nepal for the country's growing divorce rate, with an erosion of the traditional family values usually in place in the mainly Hindu society.

One lawyer claims that women citing family feuds as the reason for wanting a divorce are just hiding the fact that they are not being satisfied in bed.

Anita Chapagain says the likelihood of a woman asking for a divorce increases greatly if she is educated. In a survey of 2,300 married Nepalese women, only 9% said they wanted a divorce - but more than 70% of those were educated women.

Nepali law also favours women when it comes to divorce, with a wife able to go directly to a district court with a divorce petition, but a husband has to get clearance from the village or town council first - which can take up to a year, the South China Morning Post says.

Supreme Court Lawyer Kashi Raj Dahal said: "Marriage is swiftly ceasing to be a social insitution and becoming a contractual partnership."