Re: HIV
she is considering the worst case scenario... entirely possible, though not frequent.
Think about it. How many thousands in Pakistan right now are HIV +?
How many divorces are happening based on HIV status?
There are obviously many women who are contracting AIDS from their husband, and who are not leaving the situation because they might not have anywhere to go, nor would society be so ready to accept a divorced woman.
How many divorced women do you know have had an easy time remarrying? I know a few, and they're from educated affluent families - near zero option of remarriage. No one wants them.
I was watching an HIV documentary, and this reasoning came up in the portion on India. That in India, about half or more than half of HIV positive population is female, and has contracted it from husbands who were cheating on them. In impoverished areas, getting a divorce is either unheard of or difficult, so they end up contracting it. A lot of times their husbands don't tell them they're HIV + ; they might not even know until it progresses to AIDS.
I'm not sure if the same trend is as rampant in Pakitan, but on World AIDS Day, GEO did some coverage and they interviewed a young couple (faces were censored) in which the husband contracted it, and the wife told her story and said that when he told her, she said she wasn't going to leave him at this point. I don't know if they have kids in that case. It becomes complicated in Pakistan, because not all families want to come out and talk about. They had interviewed some AIDS social workers as well, and some folks on the street who were like "Well, we didn't even know what this disease was until recently".
Hmm...anyway. Its some food for thought.