There is strong Department of Labor data showing that an increasing number of women are earning more than their spouses, the main criteria for establishing alimony. From 1992, when Good Morning America anchor Joan Lunden got hit with an $18,000-a-month temporary alimony settlement, until 2009, 4 million more wives outearned their husbands. The biggest one-year jump occurred in 2009, the depths of the credit crisis, when the percentage of wives making more than husbands jumped to 37.7%, from 34.5% in 2008. Many Web sites now encourage men to seek alimony.
Women must also help non-custodial ex-husbands financially because of the 1984 Child Support Enforcement Amendment, which says that visiting children should enjoy the same standard of living with each parent as they do with the other.
While it’s true that men need money because of the poor economy, alimony and child support awards to men really are less a function of the poor economy and more a sign of women’s achievement in the workforce.
These imbalances bring up sensitive emotional issues.
It can also feel like a punishment for success. Self-employed women in particular, broke the glass ceiling—the mold—and blazed new trails to create their own businesses, and feel it’s all come back to bite them.
It’s a common complaint among women that their modest recent gains in the workplace are being snatched away too soon by alimony, excessive child support and college tuition. And even their workplace situation hasn’t improved. According to the Department of Labor, even though women made up 53.8% of the workforce in ’92, they had actually lost ground marginally eight years later, making up only 53.6% in 2010.
Source: Extracted from Maureen Devin Duffy in Financial Advisor Magazine
http://www.fa-mag.com/component/content/article/8311.html?issue=175&magazineID=1&Itemid=73
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