For Richer, For Poorer

Book excerpt: For Richer, For Poorer provides a new perspective on the impact of divorce on women. Based on interviews with a random sample of divorced mothers, this book identifies their real concerns: inadequate resources from their ex-husbands and the state, and unequal social policies. Presenting accounts of how they manage the divorce process, divorced women of diverse background describe their attempts to rebuild their own lives and those of their families. Demie Kurz proposes a reversal of policies which penalize the single-parent family by failing to provide mothers and children with adequate resources.