Divorce laws and women’s rights

WHILE we applaud the amendment to the Divorce Act protecting women and children, on the other side of the coin, what happens if the wife is the reason why the family is breaking up?
The amendment stipulates that half of the savings or assets will be given to the spouse, if there is any evidence of extra-marital affairs.
Many say that in the context of the PNG culture, where a lot of marriages break up over time, it is the husband who walks away with all the assets.
In PNG, people may marry under the rules of customary law, or they may follow the rules set out in matrimonial statutes.
These statutes require that the marriage be solemnised in a church or by a government representative; they presume that an adult couple can marry without family permission; they do not require bride price, but do require monogamy.
To the men, if you want to divorce, you have to be prepared split the assets in half.
Apparently, that is in line with the Family Protection Act (domestic violence) because usually when the father is angry, he kicks out the wife and children.
Under the new act, the assets also belong to the wife, which gives some protection to
women.
However, the trend has changed so much in this rapidly changing world, hence the law should look beyond just women and children.
From the late 1990s and 2000s up to now, women in PNG who were once carrying the tag “home makers or housewife” are now entrepreneurs, businesswomen, major shareholders in large investments, senior executives of reputable private domestic and international organisations and are acquiring properties and building up their financial portfolio, giving them a more stronger financial position than some men and husbands.
Professional women receive employment benefits like homeownership schemes to purchase properties and acquiring vehicles and paying for the children’s school fees, benefiting from medical insurances and are in a stronger financial position than men.
What happens if a woman who is in a stronger financial position with properties under her name enter into an extra-marital affair and asks the husband and the children to vacate the property she purchased from her entitlements?
Would the same law apply to the husband and the children?
In Australia, the Married Persons Property Act 1986 deals with property disposition on marital breakup.
The Divorce Act (amended) should give equal consideration and value to both parties.
Barbara De Angelis, the American relationship consultant says that the real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It’s a choice you make – not just on your wedding day, but over and over again – and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife.
And again, most churches preach that is the head of the family, the father, who is responsible for keeping everyone together, regardless of the trials and temptations.
Law Reforms Commission chairman Dr Eric Kwa explains that the amendment gives equal rights to the mother when there is a divorce.
Regardless of what critics to the new Divorce Act say, women now have equal rights to any property and assets when a marriage breaks up.
Period!