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The Pandemic Reveals the Danger When Women Rely on Romance
Depending on a partner financially puts women at great risk
When longtime journalist Leslie Bennetts published her book The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? — a plea to moms that they never give up their career and become financially dependent on a romantic partner — it was met with some praise but much more criticism.
The book came out in March of 2007. Nine months later, the Great Recession hit, and 69 percent of men — many of them breadwinners — lost their jobs. and, even a decade later, many still hadn’t found work.
Now we’re deep into a global pandemic, and millions of Americans have lost their job, mostly women — approaching levels of the Great Depression nearly a century ago — and no one knows what the future is going to look like, although some predict a huge hit to women’s lives and gender equality.
Without a doubt, quarantining for weeks on end has put a huge strain on couples, and many predict divorces will spike once stay-at-home orders have been lifted. Many other women may become widows due to COVID-19 or have a spouse who is too sick to work after being intubated.
That will make women — who get paid less than men, move in and out of the workforce, and who live longer than men —…
