Gender Bias Less Evident in Alimony Matters Today

In Georgia and across the country, women are focusing more and more on their careers. Rather than spending their days as housewives, many women are working their way up in the working world. A number of these women are even surpassing the salaries of their husbands.

While this new trend seems may be welcomed in many quarters, there may be unexpected consequences. In the case of divorce, these women are now being forced to pay alimony and child support to their ex-husbands.

More than 56 percent of divorce attorneys report noticing an increase in the number of mothers paying child support, and 47 percent have realized a spike in the number of women paying alimony, too.

More women are indentified as the breadwinner of the family. With that, financial responsibility has been placed on more women than ever before. This is simply the way society has progressed over the years.

For instance, more and more women are obtaining higher education. Women attending law school have nearly doubled since 1980, and those earning their medical degrees are nearly equal to that of men. In 1980, women made up only a third of those individuals receiving a medical degree.

The success women are now finding in the professional world is has not had a profound effect on the rate of divorce. The divorce rate across the country still hovers between 46 and 53 percent.

While enjoying their new careers, divorcing women are less than thrilled with the new financial responsibility it has placed on them. Like men, they speak out about their displeasure in paying alimony and child support to their former spouses.