Roxane Gay

I'm going to trust that this man is going to stay with me.

And that if, God forbid, something should happen, that he will then also take care of me.

And as many feminists know, few things put women into poverty faster than divorce.

and their children as well.

And so it's a soft life, but a soft life is a direct route to a very hard life.

And I wish that we could articulate that more.

Now, I was raised by a stay-at-home mom, and I attribute a great deal of my success to the fact that my mom was home every day and there to nurture my brothers and I after school, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

It was important.

And I think it's an incredible choice for women to make.

But my mom really had to trust my dad, who fortunately is an excellent man.

And quite frankly, she ran the household.

He gave her his paychecks.

She was never in danger.

But she told me many times that she never regretted her choice, but she also knew that she had chosen the right man.

Mm-hmm.

And divorce statistics show us that most people don't choose the right partners for whatever reason.

Marriages end, and that's okay.

There's no shame to it.

But...

Do you really want to put yourself in a situation where if your marriage ends, you are left penniless and you are forced to go into the workplace anyway?