How are Women Affected Divorce Judgements?

According to many observers, the legal system in the UK is openly biased in favour of the ‘weaker’ gender, making them stronger by dishing out judgements in favour of them, ensuring that they get heavy maintenance charges out of their husbands. The mother also wins child custody rights almost by default, and is allowed to retain the house in most of the cases as the court feels that it is easier for her to remain there, while the husband may seek his lonely hearth elsewhere. On the other hand, if the woman shifts out, she wins a hefty compensation in return.

Whose Money

The greatest tussle is usually over money. Most women still leave their jobs for the sake of raising a family. If they do not entirely let go of a source of income, they tone down their career in a way where they will be able to devote more time to their child and manage to just hold on to some sort of professional engagement in the meantime. However, they are still cooking, cleaning, keeping house and doing all that is required of them to boost their husband’s careers. So, indirectly, they are a major contributory factor to this wealth by maintaining a steady home front for the men.

Does this sound blindly feministic and reactionary (and a trifle old-fashioned too as well)? While we all like to think that this kind of picture of the man and woman in their traditional spheres is a thing of the past or something that goes on only in certain cultures and third world countries, it is unfortunately true in home turf as well. Most women in this country lose out on career opportunities, hikes and other chances of climbing the corporate ladder after they become mothers, while their husbands are able to continue with their careers without any gaps. So the courts may not be entirely unjust in trying to find out whose money it really is when it comes to the joint holdings of a couple.

Many Types of Maintenance

So why can’t the husband be allowed to pay a hefty sum at one go and then wash his hands off? There is a lot of hue and cry over the issue of ‘lifetime maintenance’ charges. It means that the husband has to keep paying a regular amount to his ex for the rest of his working life, and maybe share pension benefits as well. On the other hand, he may be allowed to pay a huge amount at one go and be rid of his responsibilities. The logic behind lifetime maintenance is that the husband enjoys the career, property, lifestyle and other benefits reaped from the joint labour of the couple throughout his life. Therefore, the wife should also have her share in the same way.

The Question of Children

A lot of wrangling goes on over children too. This is, of course, a hot issue perennially thanks to the exciting publicity stunts of the Fathers for Justice and other groups. It is true that over 90% of the single parents in the UK are mothers, and most of them divorcees. It is also true that the majority of parents shirking maintenance charges and visitations are fathers.

This statistic has been twisted, coloured, dressed up, toned down, but it is just a piece of hard fact at the end of the day. The Father’s Rights Groups wilfully avoid the issue of absconding, irresponsible dads, while the feminists become tight-lipped if it is pointed out that many mothers try to create an artificial distance between the child and the father. The only losers in this game are the children, since they do not have a good lobby backing them.

The battle has always been fought between the parents on this issue. But the noise over maintenance drowns the unspoken voices of the thousands of children in the UK who are losing out on the very meaning of the word ‘childhood’.

Fair and Unfair

So does the fairer gender get special treatment from the law? Probably not. The cases that are highlighted as examples (Heather Mills et al) are millionaire wives who are hardly a representative of the woman next door. The real face of the British single mom is a hard-working divorcee fighting through life with a child in tow.

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.