A separation between couples often turns bitter, and certain sections of society criticize and demonize women for receiving divorce settlements. For instance, a businessman claimed he set Rs. 5 crores ablaze to avoid paying the divorce settlement to his ex-wife.
But are women really just ‘opportunists’ or do they deserve the settlement? A Twitter user started the important discussion on why women are entitled to the divorce settlements “fair and square”, by talking about the unpaid domestic labour and caregiving work several women go through in a marriage setup.
absolutely hate it how when women receive divorce settlements, people start calling them opportunists. the amount of emotional and domestic labor and unpaid caregiving work that women put in their relationships is incalculable and they are entitled to that money, fair and square.
— Agatha Srishtie 🌸 (@SrishtyRanjan) May 6, 2021
Women responded by sharing their views and listing things that in their mind, justified a divorce settlement.
1. Some talked about how women sacrifice their careers and financial freedom to raise their family and run the household:
Also, most women are expected to give up their careers after marriage or at least after children. They spend years sacrificing their financial freedom to raise a family. Years of having no income which means no savings and now no settlement? Gimme a break.
— NRK (@PWNeha) May 7, 2021
I’m going through that now. 😞
— Heer (@PergatoryOfLife) May 6, 2021
2. The notion of household work being equivalent to a full-time job was also touched upon:
I am sure during the last year, when we had various lockdowns & curfews, many would have come to understand how doing household work is a pretty exhausting job and it should be viewed as good as any other full time job. https://t.co/FphHKYgMlO
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) May 6, 2021
yeah, everybody knows which gender loves to get free meals always. it’s men. in 99.99% houses in the country, you’ll see wives, mothers, sisters, and grandmothers cooking for men always. ALWAYS. do they get paid? no.
— . (@spxghxtti) May 6, 2021
3. Men shared their views on the matter as well:
I as a lawyer deal with these cases in an out.
We cannot judge every case on the same footing, believe me I hve seen women using children as bait to settle their vendata & gain handsome amount of settlement money.— Adv. Zeeshan Siddique (@AdvZeeshanSidd1) May 6, 2021
The solution here is an agreed upon (before the wedding) monthly allowance.
This accumulated allowance frees the wife up to leave whenever she wants, so the husband needs to treat her well to make her stay.— Saurav Ghoshal 2024 PM Candidate (@HindiGhoshal) May 6, 2021
Even when married women rarely have any influence on financial decisions. We hear men saying it’s his money.
So people never see divorce settlement as distribution of property. But rather payment for divorce.— Anurag Kashid (@KashidAnurag) May 6, 2021
Yeah but it’s still opportunistic. You ignore the trauma men go through 🙄
— Akash Jain (@AKJ800004) May 6, 2021
What are your views on the same? Share with us!
Cover Image Source- left