Believe it or not...
In most places men come out of divorce far better off than women do. Even in ways that you think women should do well. For instance the vast majority of men who contest custody of kids get it. Most of the time kids go with moms because men don't challenge for custody. But the threat of doing so is a powerful bargaining chip for getting other things, and is commonly used.
In The Price of Motherhood there is an interesting court case discussed where an economics professor took an interest and assigned to a class the question of what settlement would leave ex-husband and ex-wife at the same standard of living. Their conclusions were introduced to the court, and affected the settlement. The settlement was challenged by the ex-husband because it was extremely out of line with other settlements in the area - and he was right!
Cheers,
Ben
