In reading the article, Keeping
House a Full-Time Job, CT Post, Saturday, May 10, 2014, I could
not help thinking of a concern that comes up for me all the time in my work as
a divorce lawyer: Women give up their power and financial autonomy to work as a
stay-at-home mom, and then when the marriage, god forbid, goes south, they are
up the creek without much of a paddle. Oh sure, the family court is there to
provide some protection and make sure that assets get divided equitably, but
alimony and child support, in the vast majority of cases, do not provide
adequate means for a woman to support herself and her family. And why would she
want to be dependent on her ex-husband. Or even if the couple stays together,
the pernicious persistence of gender discrimination, of women without power is
a source of serious concern in our world. Just look at the article ironically
juxtaposed on the first page of the subject edition, ie, the Gallatly case. The
fact that women are victims is a serious issue in our world. And that is a
major reason why women must seek out and nurture their independence,
self-esteem, power and autonomy. Listen, I am not a fan of neglected children
and I truly think it is critically important for children to have attentive and
concerned parents. But that does not necessitate a stay-at-home parent. Two
working parents who know how to log on to Infinite Campus or whatever the
school's online program is, and who know who their kids' friends are and where
their kids are, and who monitor their kids' social media accounts, and who make
sure their kids do their homework, whether these parents work or not, will most
likely have reasonably successful and safe kids. I urge and support a trend
toward women realizing their self-sufficiency, independence, financial power
and autonomy. I believe that stable marriages, safe and successful children,
and flowers in the garden remain possible without the need for women to stay at
home with the kids.
Vicki Ferrara
Posts
