Lot of sarcastic remarks have been passed since I talked about the opportunity cost and women's entitlement to maintenance( especially those who devoted long years for home making and childcare). Notwithstanding laws or judgements, I feel that in each case of maintenance, this theme needs to be pressed upon whether a case is won or not. It's only when we speak up on such issues,that the issue would become visible. I often read and hear "if you work you are not entitled to maintenance". I had come across one supreme court judgement( or is it high court's--I need to refer to my notes) though and which I had posted in one of my threads which clearly says that even working wives can claim maintenance and one does not have to be destitute to claim maintenance.
I am posting a link which explains the opportunity cost, perhaps better than what I had done. Though the link is not indegeneous but laws and interpretation of laws are infulenced by new concepts and analysis. Hence I wanted to share this interesting link, because home making as a function exist across countries, and home making is an unpaid work in most countries, though an international movement is being built now to include its value in the GDP, and in future we would increasingly hear about it and consequently about opportunity cost. No amount of sarcasm, cynicism and ridicule would diminish its value.
Below is the article appeared in the "The Hindu", which is slightly deviated from this topic, but is worth reading and realising. So, plz. go thru this,
Why hustle us into marriage?
Sathya S
When boys of our age are still talking about their careers and laughing at relationships, why we girls have to face the prospect of marriage?
These days, the word ‘marriage' always makes its way into conversations and leaves a sense of foreboding among most girls my age, 20 or 21. Suddenly, many girls we know are getting married; some are already mothers. The whole stigma of “complete your basic education and the next day we'll get you married” has always seemed to be a thing out of Hindi soaps and the fate of girls from less privileged homes. But all on a sudden, it is happening around us, even in the most urban of homes. Some do it in the name of horoscope, some cite finances/retirement age; but, mostly, it is done because it has become a way of our society — that if girls are not married off at the ‘proper' age, there will be a dearth of grooms.
Now, you would ask, if the Constitution doesn't have any problem and as in most cases the girls themselves don't seem to have any problems, why make an issue out of it? Most would even have a ready answer, ‘Oh! It is normal for girls her age to be nervous, but it has to be done right?' Has to be done? But why? For 18 years we have been made to compete with our peers irrespective of whether they are girls/guys; applauded for beating guys to make it to the top. Our education is talked about; any reference to our ‘future' means our career. Why then, when boys my age are still talking about their careers and laughing at relationships, we start getting the whiff of that ‘Oh so sacred' word marriage? Isn't this a classic case of society caught in between the old and new times?
Imagine what a girl from a reasonably urban household goes through when her parents say after she gets out of college — “We're giving you six months' time; get yourself a job or else we're going to search for grooms!” In another instance, hardly does one land a job, when prospective ‘alliances' pop out of nowhere. All anyone wants to know from parents of girls who are of age in the so-called marriage-market is, “So have you started searching for grooms?” By complying with such a society what a parent does is to snatch away the space that a guy so easily gets and which a girl forgoes (almost always silently).
Don't get me wrong – I am not talking of what happens afterwards. One of my friends had an ‘early' marriage and by the looks of it, is having a fabulous time abroad with her husband. Another one is into glorious motherhood. All I am trying to say is if you, as a parent, instead of poring over all those horoscopes, spend a little time with your daughter, knowing whether she is really ready for the next big stage of her life at 21/22 and respecting her thoughts, it would be a greater gift than all those years of education you provided her. I also wish, for the sake of the parents too, that after all that they do for her; they don't drive her to the point of making her wonder — ‘Was I always a burden to them and no more…'!
I have not seen any judgment where any Indian judge has ever visualized such a situation. I WILL BE THE FIRST PERSON TO WELCOME IT IF SUCH A FORMULA PREVAILS IN AMARDING MAINTENANCE..
A memorandum was handed over to the Minister, pointing out the extremely limited rights available to women who had separated or were divorced, and their misery and sufferings due to financial constraints.
The delegation emphasised that the Bill to make irretrievable breakdown of marriage a ground for divorce would act against the majority of women in the existing economic and social reality of unequal status.
Adequate financial safeguards must be mandated for women before this Bill was passed, said the delegation, which included AIDWA legal convener Kirti Singh, national assistant secretary Ashalata and member Asha Sharma .
It appealed for supportive legislation to provide financial security to women by bringing in a law on matrimonial property rights immediately. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article552009.ece
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