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redundantdisgust · 6 years

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On the Wage Gap, and Alimony

Reddit has strong feelings regarding the wage gap.

CMV: The wage gap doesn't exist from r/changemyview

CMV: The wage gap exists primarily because women "marry up", instead of putting in the work themselves to make the same money that men make from r/PurplePillDebate

Why do women still earn a lot less than men? When they do the same job, though, their salaries are practically the same | Once again the Economist accurately reports that the wage gap is a myth from r/MensRights

One of the most common arguments I see is that the wage gap doesn’t exist, because women choose to work different jobs, and to prioritize family over career. I’ll discuss this flawed reasoning another time.

But the thing is, men benefit from these “choices” that women make. Often their wives are the ones managing the household, giving men more time to focus on their careers. This is often the case even when women have stressful careers of our own. We don’t really have a “choice” when it comes to sacrificing careers for family, because our partners aren’t sharing that burden equally.

This is connected with the typical dudebro’s feelings on alimony:

Women get a taste of having to pay alimony and they HATE it. Much moaning about the unfairness of it all... from r/MensRights

Help! Is it true that all those evil women are out to take my money? MRAs discuss alimony and spousal support. from r/bestoflegaladvice

Article in Italian. Recent changes in law mean Men are no longer required to pay alimony to maintain an exwife's style of life. Berlusconi wins lawsuit against exeife and she must return 60 million Euros that he pid her in alimony because she is self-sufficient from r/MensRights

They argue that alimony is unfair as a concept, and that it isn’t necessary because women have equality now. This all just strikes me as glaringly contradictory. If they acknowledge that women make choices to favor their families over their careers, why can’t they acknowledge that those choices have value? Apparently, we are expected to sacrifice our careers while married, AND to face possible destitution when divorced. 🤔

Furthermore, if we’re just supposed to accept this as a result of our choices, why don’t these men accept the consequences of their own choices? The decisions around career vs family are not made in a vacuum -- marriage is a partnership, and both partners share responsibility for those decisions.

TL;DR: Dudebro, alimony is only fair, because you chose to be in a relationship in which your spouse was financially dependent on you.

#wage gap #alimony #feminism

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