Hidden in plain sight: the financial vulnerability of female divorcees

This chapter focuses on women’s financial position following divorce. Through consideration of the Fair Shares research findings, the chapter will examine four key issues which emerged from the data with respect to financial arrangements on divorce and their implications for women: pensions, parenthood, power and process. Through an exploration of the financial realities facing women in England and Wales in these four areas, the chapter argues that women are particularly vulnerable on divorce, but that this vulnerability has been unhelpfully obscured through a range of factors, including private ordering, which encompasses a neo-liberal discourse focusing on autonomous decision-making in the financial remedy arena. Consequently, this chapter will suggest that the financial vulnerability of female divorcees is ‘hidden in plain sight’, and that an issue of key importance in any future law reform will be making these vulnerabilities more visible, especially to women themselves.