Economic Gender Equality and the Decline of Alimony in Switzerland

Abstract

Research has established a historical decline of alimony for divorced women in Western countries. Because the main function of alimony is to compensate for differences in couples' economic resources and needs, it is plausible that the reduction of alimony is a consequence of greater economic equality between husbands and wives. Scholars of divorce law, however, have argued that declines in alimony have instead resulted from a deliberate reorientation of alimony law that, by limiting alimony, has sought to facilitate divorces and to cause greater economic gender equality. Through a trend decomposition analysis that draws on couple income data linked to case‐level court reports from Switzerland before and after the introduction of no‐fault divorce (1990–2008), this study assesses the extent to which the decline of alimony is a consequence of reduced economic inequality in couples. During the study period, alimony declined from about one divorce in two to about one divorce in three, but the explanatory value of lower economic inequality in couples is limited regarding this trend. In fact, greater shares of couples' incomes earned by women and more egalitarian distributions of child custody after divorce can explain, at best, half the decline in limited‐term alimony. Greater equality in pension incomes explains steep reductions in unlimited alimony but cannot account for why limited‐term alimony awards for women of working age have become less likely. I conclude that increases in Swiss women's economic self‐sufficiency have not kept pace with the decline of alimony. The hypotheses that changing norms in alimony law are reducing alimony and that less alimony stimulates women's employment thus deserve closer examination.

Measuring public‐private‐substitution after divorce: Ex‐spouse income and the effect of marital separation on social assistance take‐up

“…A given case could lead to varying decisions on the need, extent and duration of spousal support, depending on the judge or local alimony law customs (Ellman & Braver, 2012; Oldham, 2017). Recent accounts of divorce law have provided evidence that spousal support has become less common over time in several Western countries (Bredtmann & Vonnahme, 2019; Kessler, 2020; McMullen, 2011; Ribot, 2011). One rationale behind this trend is that “clean break” divorces—divorces without spousal support orders—give women a stronger incentive to stay in the labor market during marriage or to increase labor market attachment after a divorce (Berghahn, 2004; Chiappori et al, 2017).…”

“…Although women's labor market participation in Switzerland is relatively high by international standards (2018: 62% of all women above age 15) (Lalive, 2020), most women are employed part‐time, implying a reduced income (Lalive, 2020). This, together with an above EU‐average gender gap in full time equivalent pay, implies strong inequality in earnings between men and women (Eurostat, 2020): women divorcing in 2008 earned only 32% of couples’ household incomes (Kessler, 2020). This pattern is usually explained by pointing to the relatively low institutional support for work and family reconciliation, as reflected in the high private cost of external child care (Matysiak & Węziak‐Białowolska, 2016).…”

“…Spousal support decisions are open to more discretion by courts and have been set in about a third of all divorces, as well as in roughly every second divorce with minor children. The rate of spousal support orders is high by international standards, but it has declined substantially in recent decades (Kessler, 2020).…”