i am arguing base on jojobeach's assumption. dun ask me why is
jojobeach seeing housewives in such a stereotypical view of
things.
and to jojobeach, like wad rokkie has said, usually, most of the
time, if not all, the wives themselves have assets of their own.
even housewives can have their own savings after they stop working,
and commit themselves as full time housemaker.
regarding ur qsn on what is fair. here's a tangible answer.
base on our beloved garmen's figure of $300/month per capital as
the minimum requirement to qualify for financial assistance. the
husbands can give $500/ month, for a period up till 5 yrs as
alimony. 5 yrs is more than enough time for someone to find a job
and settle down (regardless of whether they remain single or
remarried). otherwise, they can give 1 lump sum of $30k, the
equivilent of the above mentioned solution.
and given the education level of today's women, it is impossible
for them to not be able to find jobs in the workforce. most people
have at least a N level cert(i'm not saying n level qualification
is the norm, but saying that its the most basic cert everyone has),
and that's certainly enough to find a job.
$500 is enough to find you an accomodation. since the husband
(no longer related to the wife), has to work for his own living,
why shouldn't the ex-wife work for her own living? and regarding
the 5 yrs time period, i feel that there should be a time limit to
alimony payment.
if there's no cap on the duration in which alimony is to be
paid, it would be subjected to more abuse, to the detriment of the
male.
for instances, for a couple of the same age, married for 10
yrs, divorced at age of 32. if there's no time limit, the guy would
have to pay alimony to the girl for as long as she remains single.
so if she remains single for the rest of her life, does that mean
that the guy has to pay alimony to her until her death? though they
may be once married, he may have started a new life, a new family
after the divorce. is it fair to continue paying money to someone
no longer related to you, at the expense of your new family
life?
alimony allows divorcee to claim up to 75% of husband's salary.
assuming that the wife only claims 25%, 25% is still a burden on
the husband's new family.
i am only using this example of the financial burden faced by
males, as alimony payment stops when the girl remarried, and guys
are not paid alimony.
I agree , maintenance should have a time limit on it. Men should
not have to pay forever to his ex wife.
Stereotypical or not, I have my own perception of how a
housewife stands to lose because I have a sister in law with 4
children. She was a teacher with a degree, earning good salary with
excellent health and retirement benefits.
When their twins came along, she had to sacrifice her job.
Ofcors, they can afford to hire help while she continues her
career.
But when they put the children's needs top prority, the best
option is for her to stay at home to raise the children.
Thus, my brother continues to amass his fortunes, while my
sister gave up her career to tend to the offsprings.
By the time the children are old enough for her to go back to
work she will be likely in her fifties.
By then, how do you think her resume will look like ? Fifty year
old degree holder who has not been working for 15 years. Now what
is her job prospect, vs her husband who has accumlated 15 years of
working experience ?
Do you think a company will accept "Housewife" as working
experience ?
She will need to start her career from scratch, competing with
younger candidates. Watched the show "Mad Money" ?
So you believe $500 per month is sufficient, and what about the
other assets ?
Are you going to throw her out on the street with $500 to
survive on ?
To be honest, I'd rather the man pay a lump sum payment to the
wife instead of a monthly installment.
So if a woman continues her career during the course of her
marriage, and contributes her pay into the family assets. How are
you going to split this ?
So you think the fair claim for housewife will be.....
25% of the man's retirement account.
25% of other assets acquired during the marriage .
25% of his monthly up to 5 years.
That seems fair.
If I ever become a housewife, I also put in 25% effort into the
household. OK ? Good.