IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY?

MARRIAGE as we know it has been the effort to bring families together; becoming one of the many other whimsical concepts that have existed before us. The institute of marriage has been challenged in different ways, mostly because of the bad PR that marriage gets in the modern world; the expectations have changed and so have the objectives of marriage. A lot of things made sense in the traditional space, such as community of property. These things do not make sense in the modern world, and sometimes, men fight tooth and nail to challenge them.

The court, divorce and laws that now formally bid and structure what relationships are, changes constantly to meet the rights of every individual. A few years ago, the law was unjust, mostly designed for the benefit of men, however with time it has been restructured to accommodate the reality in which women live in. This means that a few years ago, a man did not have to worry about the consequences of his actions because the system favoured him. A wife would stay in the marriage because their contribution in the marriage was perceived to be invaluable and so they would be left dry and poor, if they challenge their spouse. However, the role of a man and woman outside of finances has been changed, a wife – whether working or not – will be given justly before the law when she chooses to walk away. What does this mean? Prominent issues such as infidelity, abuse, emotional distance in a relationship caged a woman because they were merely perceived as an accessory in the relationship.

Choose

Now such issues allow women to choose to walk away and that is why community of property has become a man’s biggest nightmare. From one lens, one can easily perceive this as the outcome of feminism, the liberation of women and that out of community of property which considers woman as individuals existing outside of man and what they own. While another lens can construct which this as the beginning of an era in which man are free to exist for their own benefit, without the patriarchal burden of responsibility. Am I saying that in community of property marriages are a burden for men? I have always assumed this to some degree, because men stand to lose far more than the woman does, based on the traditional setup where the wife is unemployed and does not have the resources to sufficiently take care of themselves.

In on the other side of the fence is the culture of hobosexuals, that woman are equally victims of men that want marriage for financial gain. The working class woman is likely at a disadvantage when they choose to marry, because they are likely to find a man that is attracted to the fact that they are put together; and that they have a house, car, clean credit record and so the man that does not have it all together is quick to offer marriage – in community of property. This is creating a liability for many women, tying themselves to men that will not treat them right, and they cannot easily leave either because they are married in community of property. Therefore, they stay to keep everything they have worked hard for.

In the modern world you are likely to run into men after money as much as you are likely to run into the same type of women. Does it, perhaps, have to do with the fact that women today are educated and stand equally challenging in the marriage pool? Either way, perhaps the logistics of marriage as they are today are encouraging us to change the informality of marriage and that is why having a prenup creates a better foundation for marriage. Is it irresponsible to simply get married in community of property today? Maybe. The subject at hand is simply a reflection of how far we have come with getting married in community of property and that the reasons it worked back then and the reason many opted for it does not work for the world we live in now and every day, at a divorce court, this is reflected. Although no one gets married to get divorced, many do not get married and treat marriage with respect and often jeopardise it and everything that has been built in it.

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