[WeylandYutani]

True but economics can change culture.

In the Netherlands women are no longer entitled to their husbands money after a divorce. This forces women to maintain an effective career or be left behind in poverty. No more "stay at home" mom's. Sometimes you have to nudge people into freedom.

[sofixa]

Why not? The whole point of the thing is that one of the parents might prefer to sacrifice their career, for some time, to care for the kids, and there's nothing wrong with that IMO. In case of divorce why wouldn't the sacrifice count? Or another scenario, one of the partners pursues a less financially rewarding field (say arts, or music, or teaching; or part time work to spend time with kids, volunteer work, hobbies, etc.) - in that case they'd always be at a massive disadvantage, which is just ripe for abuse. Daring to file for a divorce knowing it will put you in poverty overnight takes a lot of courage and things have to be really bad. Not saying one should finance their ex-partner's lifestyle forever, of course, but this is too much.

> Sometimes you have to nudge people into freedom.

I'm not sure it's freedom to force people to work at the threat of destitution.

[paulryanrogers]

Is it strictly based on gender? I could see a stay at home father getting alimony if he sacrificed years of his career to raise the kids.