When a couple gets married, especially when they have children, one person does more paid work while the other does more unpaid work. Women usually do more unpaid work, but that should not matter in this debate. Statistics also tell us both do about an equal amount of work, but that is a different discussion.

The problem is that only the person doing paid work accumulates wealth in social security funds. In case of a divorce, the person doing most unpaid work is greatly disadvantaged compared to the person doing most of the paid work.

Details vary significantly per country, but social security funds may include:

  • Retirement savings, including pension and 401k
  • Unemployment insurance
  • Disability Insurance
  • Medical insurance
  • etc

I argue that contributions to social security funds should be split 50/50 between the couple from the moment they get married. And I argue this should be made mandatory by law.