More Than A Magazine, A Movement
When spouses legally dissolve a marriage, their experiences before, during and after are often shaped by gender.
The Alice Hector–Robert Young divorce case epitomizes the impact of gendered parenting stereotypes held in custody cases. Is there a side feminists should take?
(For more ground-breaking stories like this, order 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION, Alfred A. Knopf—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.)
U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
This month: Jane’s Due Process is now providing travel funding for Texas teens accessing abortion; states continue to face anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks; Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll; Indiana’s medical licensing board fined Dr. Caitlin Bernard; and more.
No-fault divorce aims to provide a fair and equitable approach to marital dissolution by removing the need to assign blame or prove wrong-doing in order to obtain the divorce.
As a society, we recognize that not all relationships are forever. Now, conservative leaders in states like Louisiana, Texas and Nebraska want to get rid of no-fault divorce, in some cases introducing bills that would transform us back to the world of fault-based battles. What many people don’t understand is this would be absolutely catastrophic—especially for women.
Divorce is a $28 billion a year industry that affects 50 percent of the people involved in marriage. Between 70 and 80 percent of divorces are initiated by women. Among college-educated women, that number jumps to 90 percent. But even though women overwhelmingly are the ones who want divorce, men somehow benefit disproportionately. Why?
Being quarantined led to a devastating hit on U.S. marriages. By June 2020—just three months into the pandemic—there had been a 34 percent increase in couples contemplating divorce compared to 2019.
While financial stressors and health worries contribute to the breakdown of partnerships, in many heterosexual partnerships, it is the massive disparity in who does household labor, including childcare, that matters most.
The pandemic is undoing decades of progress, reinforcing a breadwinner/homemaker division of labor for all too many women. When rising divorce rates get added to the mix, history teaches us the combination can be volatile.