

As most readers are aware, American society has changed. As a result of the overall income inequality in this country over the last 30-plus years, most couples are required to work full-time in order to make ends meet. Women have also spent decades fighting for that right to work on equal footing with men. Why is it, therefore, that when two people get married, pursue equal professional careers, and decide to raise children, it is the wife who is expected to sacrifice her career, take time away from the workforce and forego income and advancement? Who says this is the way it should be? For me, this is the main obstacle that women face in this country. This expectation that women are required to be the primary caregivers in our society is the root cause of gender income inequality. It is an expectation so prevalent among us that only the strongest of 21st Century women even question its fairness.


During those child-raising years, she did not contribute to social security a 401 (k) plan or IRA, failed to keep up with her competition (mostly male lawyers), and when she did get a job it was at a salary far below what she should have been making if she, instead of her husband, had raised the children.


What's more, from her employer's point of view, why pay her more since who's to say she doesn't take another leave of absence if she gets pregnant again? Unfortunately in America there is more fact than fiction in this television tale. The divorce rates in the U. S. are 40-50 percent and guess who ends up with the kids the majority of time? So not only have women given up a career, income and economic advancement, but a vast number of them now are required to support the kids while the ex goes off to prison or enjoy his professional success with someone younger.


Many of these women are divorced, have children to support, or just as important, they are widowed. You might find it surprising to discover that over 75 percent of women in this country are widowed at an average age of 56. One in four of these women are broke within two months of being widowed, according to the National Center for Women and Retirement Research. More often than not, their only avenue of support is low paying jobs with no future.

