Half and half -by Melville Cooke

RECENT EVENTS of the lactose
intolerant kind have once
again raised the sometimes smelly
question of what exactly a woman
should get from her ex-husband upon a divorce.
In fact, the issue goes beyond marriage, but still
seems very difficult to swallow without a swig of beer, or
some essential seasons.
The issue is, strictly speaking, not what a woman should
get from her husband, but how the assets of a splitting
couple should be split. The fact that we almost invariably
see it as what the woman should receive, speaks to an
entrenched historical imbalance in earning power.
The 'see' is becoming more level with the 'saw' through
education, but still real wealth is still seen as a male
preserve.
Except in extreme cases of trickery, I support the notion
that a couple's assets should be split equally when the
relationship goes belly up. In the long term, that applies
to whether they are married or not. In other words, save
for a situation of the extreme where a senile man gives in
to the only basic instinct he has left and weds a lass who
has the assets to wean him away from his money,
I believe the woman should get half.
BEYOND THE STANDARD
The reason goes beyond the standard "she and him build
together, so she should get the money instead a some new
woman who has just come on the scene and has not been
through the struggling days". It has to do more with shelf
life and, simply.
Women simply do not wear well. The gym is fine to lift the
glutes, face-lifts are great to lift cheeks of the more normally
visible kind, make-up smoothes out the dents of collision
with life and clothes can cleverly conceal or enhance.
But there is no stopping that infernal biological clock, which
limits a woman's reproductive capabilities. Men fire live
bullets as long as the nozzle is not hanging down.
This, among other factors, makes it simply easier for a
man to start over, to have a fulfilling relationship after
he and a woman break up. Splitting assets evenly will
not make up for the time a woman has spent with a man
while the hatchables dribble away, but I am sure there
is less bitterness in loneliness with something from the
lost relationship than without.
There is no compensation for leeching away somebody's
most productive years, in one way or the other, but the
cash is a good start.
There is, of course, the matter of what contribution the
woman has made to the assets that she is supposed to
be entitled to half of. Certainly, in many cases, she did
not help make the hops or process the soy, but there is
no value which can be put on the encouragement that a
person gives their partner as he or she either pursue his
or her dream or consolidate the actualisation of those
objectives. Sharing a dream, a goal, a vision is very
much a contribution; giving encouragement when things
look very bleak is invaluable and is worth something.
There is, of course, the argument that some women do
not make even that contribution, that the relationship
was simply terrible for the man. In that case, he
deserves to be punished for being damned stupid.
Any man who stays with a harpy or keeps a woman
around for decorative and pin cushion value deserves
to lose more than half.
SUPPORT
There is also the notion that a woman marries a wealthy
man and, a short time after, acts up and gets half of what
she did not work for. Fair enough, but there is the
matter of punishment again. Show me the man who
has achieved without the support of a woman and I
will show you a man who has achieved with the support
of a man. We don't 'mel' with the latter, but in the
former case if the woman who went through the rough
times is jilted over, then the man deserves to be
punished for his terrible treatment by being taken
half way to the cleaners by the person he hooks up
with when he has 'made it'.
And although I have spoken from the perspective of
fairness towards women, I also believe that it applies
the other way around.
Equality of the sexes should not be a convenient
one-way street.
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer in Jamaica
link:
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20051229/cleisure/cleisure2.html

An interesting post I thought would liven my blog.
He is a good writer and has in the past written some
good posts in the Jamaican Gleaner.