Alimony Is Bad For Women And Based On Flawed Logic

Emma Johnson on www.wealthysinglemommy.com says that Alimony is bad for women and based on flawed logic. I could not agree more. Many of her arguments are ones that I have also made. In most cases alimony degrades women because it implicitly treats them as less able than men. 

Suffragists and feminists before us fought bitterly (and joyously, one would hope) so you and I have financial and legal parity with men. We have a way to go, but for the most part in this country women have opportunity to support themselves. With opportunity comes responsibility. You choose to be financially dependent on someone else (like a husband), you take a risk. If that marriage ends and you have little career equity and low earning potential as a result, you must pay the consequences of the downside of that risk.

Take alimony out of the career-planning equation and we force women to take full responsibility for their careers and finances from the beginning of adulthood. This is critical if we are going to close the pay gap, which has little to do with workplace sexism, and more to do with women choosing lower-paying professions and stepping away from careers to devote to family life.