Economically, we could think of a marriage as a business partnership.
In the case of a traditional marital division of labor, we could think that the man invests money in the marriage and the wife invest “sweat equity.” When the partnership dissolves, the partner who invested sweat equity is still entitled to an equal share of value of the business. In such cases, alimony is differently justified.
Even in a non-traditional division of labor, partners still contribute to the economic success of the marriage, especially if the couple has children.
The laws should be level between the sexes but the reality is that women still make more economic sacrifices for the good of the family than do men. The idea that these sacrifices should not be compensated when the partnership fails will cause long-term problems.
