It’s common knowledge that roughly half of marriages today end in divorce. This is up significantly from the 1960s, when about 30 percent of marriages ended in divorce within 15 years. The underlying social and economic changes that have spurred this increase remain a bit of a mystery. But the topic was taken up in a massive 2016 study conducted by Harvard sociology professor Alexandra Killewald.One of the best ways for a passive-aggressive man to get his wife to leave him is to simply stop working. Stop paying her bills and most women will decide the grass is greener, or at least more profitable, within a year or two. It will reduce any alimony too.
“A core unresolved question is how trends in marital stability relate to changing family and economic circumstances. Have wives’ greater earnings power and work experience increased divorce by reducing the costs of exiting bad marriages? Are strained household finances associated with heightened risk of divorce? Or do spouses’ work and earnings patterns alter marital stability by conveying signals about whether each partner is fulfilling the implicit, symbolic, gendered terms of the marital contract?”
Killewald analyzed three different theories (or “perspectives”) on divorce: the financial strain perspective, the economic independence perspective, and the gendered institution perspective.
Surprisingly, no support was found for the economic independence or financial strain perspectives, theories that suggest marriages are more likely to end when the cost of divorce is low or limited financial resources lead to family stress.
Killewald did find support for the gendered institution perspective.
“…the strongest evidence for the gendered institution perspective is that, for marriages begun in 1975 or later, divorce is more likely when husbands are not employed full-time. Consistent with my hypotheses, there is no evidence that this association is weaker for later than earlier marriage cohorts. Just as male breadwinning has remained important for marriage formation (Sweeney 2002), the results here demonstrate its enduring importance for marital stability. The results are consistent with claims that bread-winning remains a central component of the marital contract for husbands (Nock 1998).”
The myth of gender equality
Feminists may talk up equality, but the fact is that women don't want anything to do with it in marriage.
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