Why More Women Are Having Extramarital Affairs [See More]

They can afford to.

The No. 1 reason more women are cheating: They’re more financially independent. Higher-paying jobs allow them to forget about potential financial consequences if an extramarital affair leads to divorce, the NORC survey revealed. Women today are less likely to see incomes fall after divorce. In fact, one-fifth of divorced women saw their incomes rise more than 25%, because of their better earning power, according to a 2012 Pew Charitable Trust survey.

  Cheating at the click of a button.

Technology has made it easier to have extramarital affairs.

Cheating women once had to sneak off to public phone booths to make plans with a lover. Now they can call or text on personal cell phones or connect on dating and social media websites, Manette says.

The pool of available men, in the office or online, is now huge and offers many more opportunities to cheat.

“If you had an old high school flame, you can reconnect with him on Facebook,” Manette says. “Emails turn to conversations, which turn into emotional affairs, [and] next is the physical affair.”

Women want – and like – s ex.

For centuries, Western culture has held that women’s s ex drives were less intense than men’s and that it was easier for them to stay in a monogamous relationship.

Not true, according to Albright: “Women have a strong s ex drive, but they’re taught to mask it to be marriageable in society.”

It’s also a myth that women are less able than men to separate s ex from an emotional connection.

“In reality, [women] want s ex,” Albright says. “It’s wishful thinking to assume that women use s ex only for intimacy.”

That’s backed by a 2012 study published in the journal S ex & Marital Therapy. Partnered women whose s ex drive was higher than their partners’ were less satisfied than men in the same situation, according to the researchers.