According to a recent 2011 survey conducted by the Legal Evening News, 53.7% of divorce cases in Beijing are filed by women. The findings indicate that women are becoming the deciding party in marital decisions to divorce.

The survey studied a total of 1,020 divorce cases across Beijing's six urban districts.

Amongst these cases, over 50% were filed by wives after discovering or suspecting their partners of infidelity or extra-marital affairs.

In addition, as highlighted by the recent Crazy English founder Li Yang's divorce case, women who have experienced domestic violence are beginning to take a hard-line approach to divorce.

The survey also indicates that women who file for divorce are mainly aged between 30 and 40 years old.

Women are taking the initiative to ask for a divorce, indicating that family functions in the female consciousness are changing, said Chen Changyi, a judge at the Haidian District People's Court.

With the rise of women's education, income and independence, women no longer see a husband or family as economic security, he said.

Chen concluded that under these new circumstance, once a husband has an affair, is violent or a third party threatens the marriage, wives will take the initiative to ask for divorce in order to free themselves from the relationship.