Reversed accounting: legal professionals, families and the gender wealth gap in France

Bessière, Céline

doi:10.1093/ser/mwz036

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…wealth accumulated jointly during the marriage) should de jure be divided equally, recent work from Bessière (2019) additionally highlighted that de facto arrangements about the division of marital wealth are often gendered, which additionally disadvantages divorced women's financial situation -at least in the study's context of France. Bessière (2019) found that division processes favour men based on normative notions that perceive men's financial contributions during the marriage as superior to women's financial and non-financial contributions. 9 How withincouple wealth inequalities influence the association between marital dissolution and wealth, including potentially gendered effects, is thus directly governed by legal regulations about the division of property.…”

Section: Figure 11 Division Of Wealth At Divorcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…the future wellbeing of spouses and children. Additionally, crude assumptions about the division of wealth at divorce may overlook potential gender bias in the actual division of property, for instance, based on perceptions of higher entitlements for the main income earner -commonly men (Bessière, 2019). Overall, household-level wealth data have thus limited gender-sensitive analyses of the association between marital dissolution and wealth.…”

Section: Thesis Objectives Questions and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is particularly crucial as substantial within-couple wealth inequalities -to the disadvantages of women -are mainly based on pre-marital differences Kapelle & Lersch, 2020). Additionally, Bessière (2019) emphasised that despite a legally equal division of marital wealth (i.e. wealth accumulated during the marriage excluding personal inheritances and gifts), the de facto division of this wealth often reinforces gender differences based on gender norms around men's and women's economic entitlements.…”

Section: Gender Wealth Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research by Bessière (2019), however, showed that despite the de jure equal division of marital property, de facto division can reproduce gender inequalities and thus disadvantages women. Overall, I therefore expect that personal wealth declines during separation and the divorce proceeding are larger for women than for men (Gendered Wealth Decline Hypothesis).…”

Section: Gender Differences Over the Marital Dissolution Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I additionally assess what type of trajectory patterns matters and can further help to understand disparities in wealth accumulation at older ages. I consider the extent to which all these associations vary by gender, as wealth accumulation potentials have been shown to differ between men and women (Bessière, 2019;Sierminska et al, 2010), which was discussed in more detail in Chapter 2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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May your wealth be easily divisible by two: marital dissolution and personal wealth of German men and women over the life course

Kapelle¹

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Wealth provides advantages above those provided by earnings including the access to an objective and subjective economic buffer during financial hardship (Spilerman, 2000). However, individuals differ greatly in their ability to generate and maintain wealth (Killewald, Pfeffer, & Schachner, 2017). The lack of sufficient private wealth is becoming progressively problematic, as even countries with generous welfare systems, such as Germany, have increasingly emphasised personal economic responsibility throughout the life course (Seeleib-Kaiser, 2016). It is thus urgent to understand the factors that disrupt individuals' wealth accumulation given their implications for the economic wellbeing of the population in forthcoming years. While family dynamics have been recognised as a source of stratification (McLanahan & Percheski, 2008), marital dissolution has received little attention within wealth stratification research despite this event being linked to a range of financial-and potentially wealth-relevant-burdens (e.g. relocation costs, administrative divorce costs). This thesis investigates the association between marital dissolution and wealth of men and women in Germany. I thereby expand on an incipient body of US research that found that marital dissolution is associated with substantially lower household or percapita wealth (e.g. Zagorsky, 2005; Zissimopoulos, Karney, & Rauer, 2015). These studies, however, almost exclusively used cross-sectional data and static theories, although the processes linking marital dissolution and wealth are likely dynamic, with important wealth-related processes taking place before and after marital separation and divorce. Furthermore, due to data restrictions, previous studies insufficiently considered gender differences although the economic outcomes of marital dissolution, at least for income, have been shown to differ between men and women. To address these shortcomings in previous research, I aim to (a) explain how marital dissolution affects individuals' wealth levels and wealth accumulation, including immediate and long-term outcomes, and (b) explore how, and to what degree, the association between marital dissolution and wealth is gendered. I rely on three methodological and theoretical developments to address these aims. First, I draw on the life course framework, which provides a set of heuristics that acknowledge patterns of stability and change. Second, addressing limitations of static methods applied in previous research, I build on statistical methods that provide more appropriate tools to analyse patterns of progression, individual change, and dynamic processes. My quantitative approach includes panel regressions and sequence analysis. Third, I rely on novel longitudinal wealth data from the German SocioEconomic Panel (SOEP). These data are unique in that they were collected separately for each household member (i.e. at the personal level), which enable a gender-sensitive approach. My thesis highlights a range of key findings: First, marital dissolution is associated ...

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Section: Figure 11 Division Of Wealth At Divorcementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thesis Objectives Questions and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gender Wealth Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gender Differences Over the Marital Dissolution Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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May your wealth be easily divisible by two: marital dissolution and personal wealth of German men and women over the life course

Kapelle¹

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Heterogeneity in Family Life Course Patterns and Intra-Cohort Wealth Disparities in Late Working Age

Kapelle

Vidal

2021

Eur J Population

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Considering soaring wealth inequalities in older age, this research addresses the relationship between family life courses and widening wealth differences between individuals as they age. We holistically examine how childbearing and marital histories are associated with personal wealth at ages 50–59 for Western Germans born between 1943 and 1967. We propose that deviations from culturally and institutionally-supported family patterns, or the stratified access to them, associate with differential wealth accumulation over time and can explain wealth inequalities at older ages. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP, v34, waves 2002–2017), we first identified typical family trajectory patterns between ages 16 and 50 with multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis. We then modelled personal wealth ranks at ages 50–59 as a function of family patterns. Results showed that deviations from the standard family pattern (i.e. stable marriage with, on average, two children) were mostly associated with lower wealth ranks at older age, controlling for childhood characteristics that partly predict selection into family patterns and baseline wealth. We found higher wealth penalties for greater deviation and lower penalties for moderate deviation from the standard family pattern. Addressing entire family trajectories, our research extended and nuanced our knowledge of the role of earlier family behaviour for later economic wellbeing. By using personal-level rather than household-level wealth data, we were able to identify substantial gender differences in the study associations. Our research also recognised the importance of combining marital and childbearing histories to assess wealth inequalities.

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Wealth in Couples: Introduction to the Special Issue

2022

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The assumption that economic resources are equally shared within households has been found to be untenable for income but is still often upheld for wealth. In this introduction to the special issue “Wealth in Couples”, we argue that within-household inequality in wealth is a pertinent and under-researched area that is ripe for development. To this end, we outline the relevance of wealth for demographic research, making the distinction between individual and household wealth. Drawing on a life-course perspective, we discuss individual wealth accumulation within couples and its links to family-demographic processes, the institutional context, and norms on pooling and sharing. We conclude with a brief summary of the main findings from the special issue and highlight implications for demographic research and for future research in this field.

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Reversed accounting: legal professionals, families and the gender wealth gap in France

Cited by 28 publications

References 60 publications

May your wealth be easily divisible by two: marital dissolution and personal wealth of German men and women over the life course

May your wealth be easily divisible by two: marital dissolution and personal wealth of German men and women over the life course

Heterogeneity in Family Life Course Patterns and Intra-Cohort Wealth Disparities in Late Working Age

Wealth in Couples: Introduction to the Special Issue

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