Many financially independent women, who routinely foot family bills, are seen to smirk at the concept of alimony as a perpetuation of gender stereotypes. What needs to be remembered here is that the concept of alimony establishes woman and man as equal partners in a marriage.

Assets acquired in the course of a marriage belong to both of them and, therefore, in the event of a divorce need to be shared equally. In India, however, there are several impediments to this division: from psychological to systemic.