It’s not just in country songs anymore that we find cheating women. Wives are showing signs of infidelity in increasing numbers. Our daily average lives are not what they were 50 or 100 years ago. Not only has the general social attitude toward sex changed, there are a multitude of other factors that collectively have led to this recent rise in cheating wives.

While all the exact and extensive reasons why women cheat can hardly be explained in a short article, there are a few major societal factors that can help us understand the trend:

1. Mixed workplace - In previous generations, there was much less contact between men and women. Women stayed at home, or worked with other women, but not among men as more or less equal co-workers.

2. Work circumstances - Late nights, depending on others, closed door meetings, company secrets. All these point to increased intimacy which isn’t much of a problem when all your co-workers are blokes and your sweet wife is waiting for you at home, but throw a woman (or two or three) in the mix and you increase risk of intimacy at work becoming intimacy of another sort. That does not excuse or grant permission for infidelity, but it does increase the risk of it.

3. Feeling neglected - Long hours and career aspirations can work against a marriage in the opposite direction as well. "So many times we see neglect of relationship in marriage. It’s not intentional and it’s not even concretely recognizable in some cases, especially if the husband’s motivation is to provide the lifestyle he and his wife have always wanted," says Rick Reynolds, director of the Affair Recovery Center. According to Reynolds, when a husband’s career keeps him away from home and hold all his attention, a wife can feel abandoned

4. Misplaced priorities - While he may feel like he is making his career for her and for their family, he may become complacent about working on the relationship. "Remember, relationships take work, there is no coasting." says Reynolds. The wife in these situations will subconsciously seek out someone else who has more time. It may not even be physical. And a career driven husband is no guarantee that a wife will be unfaithful. It increases the risk, but by no means justifies it.

5. Lack of caution – Women, like men, can yield to temptations if they don’t exercise caution. Our culture is increasingly losing boundaries in all sorts of relationships which opens us all to temptations. As the saying goes, failure to plan is planning to fail. It would be wise for men and women to consider what they are going to do if that hottie at the gym starts flirting with you. Is it ok with your mate if you flirt back? How far should you let it go before you mention you’re taken? Being unprepared for these situations can get anyone in trouble.

Cheating wives may not be as rare as they used to be, but societal factors can raise the risk of infidelity. Both increased interaction between men and women in the workplace and increased pressure on men to spend time and energy on work rather than family can contribute to the rise in infidelity among wives, but neither factor should be seen as an excuse. Acknowledging the risk can help both in affair prevention and in surviving infidelity