Is it true that after splitting up, between a husband and the wife divorce always favors the woman? Does a benefit more in divorce?
A lot of opinions sprout when the subject matter of “divorce” comes up, and we all know the general ideology and outcome of a divorce is almost always in favor of the woman above the man.
Even though the world is tilting towards a more feministic, gender neuter, and equality between the sexes, when the issue of marriage comes up, the man is always seen to be placed at a higher level than the woman.
This is even more enforced by teachings of the major global religions —Christianity and Islam— which, one way or another, deliberately or inadvertently, tend to magnify the position of the husband above that of the wife.
A husband is seen as the head, while the woman is seen as the weaker vessel, which is to be seen (sometimes unseen in public) and not heard. In certain cultures, the man is seen as the one who “marries” the woman, while the woman is portrayed as “married” to the man.
Divorce Always Favors The Woman – 7 Revealing Reasons
Ideologies and other reasons like this are very important, such that the dissolution of marriages tends to favor the woman over the man.
In California, for instance, a wife can be entitled to up to half of the marriage’s assets and up to 40% of their partner’s income for child support, spousal support, and primary child custody.
On the other hand, the husband has few privileges in the divorce proceedings, irrespective of who filed for the divorce.
Some of the reasons for these include:
1. Child Custody
In the context of guardianship, the legal and practical connection between a parent or guardian and the child in their care is referred to as child custody.
Legal custody—the authority to make choices about the kid—and physical custody—the obligation to keep the child in a home, provide for their needs, and take care of them—are both parts of child custody.
Children of married parents typically enjoy shared legal and physical custody.
Normally, decisions about child custody come up during a divorce, annulment, separation, adoption, or parental death process. The best interests of the child standard are used to decide child custody in most jurisdictions.
Depending on the age and gender of the child/children at the time of the divorce, the court may decide to rule in favor of the woman.
When the general well-being of an infant and a girl child is put into perspective, a single woman’s parenting is always generally preferred.
The court tends to favor the person who has custody over the children. This way, the person gets child support from the other parent, giving them an advantage.
People generally believe that children will fare better under the custody of a single mother than a single father.
This is usually a basic rule of thumb, as there is no factual, experimental evidence to back it up.
Although the court is supposed to follow the letter of the law in the administration of justice, the spirit of the law sometimes tints the court’s ruling, which then decides in the woman’s favor.
2. Biological Degradation
It is common knowledge that a man can choose to start a family at any point in his life. The sexual and reproductive abilities of a man begin at puberty and end in death.
However, women always enter into the menopause stage of their lives where reproductive vitality, sexual attraction and sexual activity tend to plateau and eventually decline with time.
As opposed to what is obtainable in a man, a woman will not always be able to start a family again.
The court may rule in favor of the woman’s well-being, especially if she is above menopause, as they opine that she is already being served the lower hand by life.
Child custody which comes with child support, naturally flows in her direction.
After all, the man can easily start over, right?
3. Reason For The Divorce
With the right lawyers, any truth can be taken and made into facts that may or may not be in concordance with reality.
A woman pushing for divorce could be portrayed as seeking to secure her life, mental health and the life of her children.
She can be made into one who is trying to protect the peace and is seeking dissolution of the marriage for the greater good.
On the other hand, a man being the one who is seeking a divorce, may automatically brand the woman as “that poor, innocent-looking lady whose husband is leaving her”.
She is seen as having tried her best to preserve the marriage, but to whom the naturally polygamous masculinity of her husband is happening to her.
She’s always seen as the disadvantaged one. The instinct of the court? Protect the defenseless.
4. Reward For Labor
In a marriage, a woman is seen as the one who leaves her father, mother and family, gets married to her husband, changes her surname, becomes a part of his family, bears children for him, raises them, and manages his household.
She is seen as the one who has more to lose in a divorce since she changed her life to fit in with him. She commits years of work to being a wife, mother and woman all at once.
To the court, it’s only fair that she receives some settlement and “fair” treatment.
5. The Societal Stigma
An arbitrary rule exists in most societies where a woman, who is a divorcee, is branded as unable to build and maintain a home, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding the divorce.
Her marriageability and value in the dating/marriage pool tend to dip. Being a divorcee is more of a stain on a woman’s character than a man’s.
She is seen as one who cannot persevere through difficult times or one who is not submissive to her husband’s authority. She becomes less desirable.
The court may tend to do everything it can to alleviate this punishment by considering her post-divorce welfare more.
6. Domestic Violence
When the woman files for a divorce due to domestic violence, the court is bound to rule in her favor. The court is a place to seek justice and will ensure full protection for whoever dims fit.
In a domestic violence case, a restraining order is given to the husband to keep him away from his wife throughout the court cases.
Where there is full evidence to show, the court’s order will favour the plaintiff, and judgment will be passed on to the defendant according to the damages caused.
7. Being The Plaintiff
There is more advantage when you are the plaintiff, that is, you are filing for a divorce. This is because you get to be the one who tells the narrative of your story by writing the complaint.
You are the one who tells the court what you want them to know, and they are likely to stick with it till the end of the case.
Women have been filing for divorce all these years and therefore get to write the complaint. This way, the court will work with the narrative given to them by the plaintiff – the woman.
Conclusion
The above-listed points are possible reasons you think the court favors a woman over a man. Still, the court is in no way biased, and every case is brought to a conclusion after much investigation and proof of valid evidence.
If you want more information concerning divorce you can watch this video