I suggested in a prior blog that the traditional institution of marriage is not only ineffective, but also a lopsided contract that is no longer useful. It should be abandoned or re-built to reflect current reality. As we all know, the original reason for creating the institution of marriage was not to bring lovers together for life, but rather to create a social unit (i.e. the family) in order to raise children to be fully contributing citizens. For centuries women automatically did housework and childrearing under the belief that this was their main responsibility in life. This old-fashioned belief was reinforced by religions and laws. As women were allowed other life options, they began to question this non-paid work and realized that it came at not just a high cost to their income earning potential
and self esteem, but also at a very high risk as divorces increased. So I now ask: Why do we still expect women to sacrifice their careers and income to raise children only to be told ten years into it all that that their husbands prefer younger blondes. If we truly want women to be whole and we truly want children to be born and raised well, we have to re-think the whole idea of marriage. We must create new institutions that make much more sense and do not put women at such disadvantage and risk. In my next blog I will describe the replacement to the old marriage contract.