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A policy encouraging joint custody in divorce cases may “have effects on women’s financial independence,” with separated mothers more likely to work if they have joint custody of their children, rather than primary custody, says a study released Thursday.
By examining the tax data of more than 60,000 divorced or “dislocated” mothers, researchers from the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) observed that “the employment rate of mothers with children in shared custody is 20 points higher than that of mothers with primary custody“.
The difference even reaches 50 percentage points for women who did not work before their separation. It is also particularly marked (difference of 27 points) when the youngest child is under 3 years old.
However, in a context whereseparated mothers and their children still face higher risks of poverty“, the fact of “finding a new job or keeping one helps to avoid a drastic drop in the standard of living during a separation“, observe the authors.
Consequently, “policies favoring a more egalitarian sharing of parental responsibilities, such as support for shared residence, can have effects on women’s financial autonomy“, they conclude.
The effect of such policies could also be felt on the “standard of living of children from single-parent families in the short term, and also, potentially, in the long term on the pension rights of these mothers“, adds the study.
After a separation of the parents, the most frequent situation is that the children live principally with the mother, with regular visits to the father on weekends.
However, shared custody has been “democratized” in recent years, observes INED. This type of arrangement concerned one in five divorces in 2012, twice as many as ten years earlier.
Among all minor children whose parents are separated, 12% alternate at parity – for example one week out of two – between their two homes, according to INSEE figures collected in 2020.