Helen Nile
Helen qualified as a solicitor in 1998 having completed her training as a solicitor with t...
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Does Divorce Law Undermine Equality?
(16th September | 12:47)
Baroness Ruth Deech (the chairman of the Bar Standards Board) has spoken out about the divorce laws in this country stating that the way that the law currently operates is "paternalistic and unprincipled".
She has said that divorce settlements which require men to give former wives "half of their wealth" are unfair to men and demeaning to women. She has also said that when women expect equality at work, why should it be the case that they expect, even after a relatively short and childless marriage to receive some sort of maintenance compensation. Her view was that:
"The message is that getting married to a well off man is an alternative career to one in the workforce. Maintenance law has been left behind by social developments and the failure to reconsider it has had unfortunate consequences.It is schizophrenic if at one and the same time family law assumes that a woman can and should stay at home and care for their children and be compensated for that on divorce, and for society to call for women to take 50 per cent of top jobs."
Baroness Deech has also addressed the availability of divorce putting forward the view that getting divorced is now too easy. She has questioned why it is now "easier to end a marriage than terminate a tenancy or contract of employment". She believes that divorce law is a subject that politicians simply do not want to get involved in and believes that the whole system needs to be reviewed and changed.
Her suggestion would be to emphasise fault within divorce and to prevent people from finalising divorce proceedings based on behaviour or adultery until a period of twelve months had elapsed.
Do you agree with her or is it the case that the views that she is expressing do not really relate to the "real world" and the majority of divorces in this country?
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