Once Upon a Divorce...

In 2011, a recently divorced woman stood at a threshold vulnerable, disoriented, yet cautiously hopeful. Statistically, she had an 18% chance of receiving spousal support. If she did, the average amount was around €841 per month, adjusted for inflation. Modest, but meaningful.

Fast-forward to 2023. That figure has dropped to 12.5%. The average support? €693. The descent is consistent, almost rhythmic. CBS calls it “less spousal support.”

But I ask you: is this a sign of progress, or a quiet surrender of responsibility?

Because here’s what else CBS tells us: women also score significantly lower than men in broad prosperity, in trust, in perceived health, in job satisfaction, and in environmental quality of life. Not anecdotal. Measured.

So again, we must ask, when support declines in a system that still disadvantages women:

Is that equality… or abdication?

The Why That No One Dares Ask

Entrepreneurs know the seduction of performance metrics: you cut costs, reduce liabilities, optimize independence. It all looks great, until the system crashes.

That’s what I see here. A systemic reshuffling of responsibility, masked as emancipation.

Let me be blunt: we’ve redefined self-reliance as the ability to suffer in silence. And we call it empowerment.

Here’s the deeper question:

When did autonomy become synonymous with abandonment?

The Illusion of Equal Metrics

From 2011 to 2023:

• Spousal support recipients (women) dropped: 18% → 12.5%.
• Average monthly alimony dropped: €841 → €693.
• Alimony as share of income dropped: 22% → 15%.

At the same time:

• Women report lower well-being across 6 of 13 national prosperity indicators.
• They have less paid work, worse perceived health, less trust in institutions and others, and higher environmental distress.
• Meanwhile, men score above average across nearly all those same dimensions.

And yet, we’re reporting the alimony decline as social achievement.

In my world, we call this a false KPI. Optimizing the visible metric while the system beneath deteriorates.

Would You Do This to a Co-Founder?

Let’s translate it to business because that’s where the distortion becomes visible.

Imagine telling a co-founder:

“Now that we’re splitting, I won’t compensate you for the years you built intangible value. You're free now. Go rebuild on your own.”

You’d be called a fraud. Because in business, we respect asymmetry. We understand delayed return on effort. We honor structural imbalance with structural correction.

But in private life, we’ve done the opposite. We've called it equality.

The Invisible Load Becomes the Silent Debt

The truth is that behind every woman who now “doesn’t need support,” there’s usually:

• A career derailed by unpaid caregiving.
• A pension gap disguised by optimism.
• A present income that masks past compromise.

And now, with broad prosperity data, we see it crystal clear: the systemic disadvantage still exists. The only thing that’s disappeared is the acknowledgment.

We’ve removed the compensation without removing the cause.

Entrepreneurs, Pay Attention: This Is Coming for You Too

What does this have to do with your company?

Everything.

If your culture celebrates lean models that hide real effort...

If your systems reward visible performance but neglect invisible contribution...

If you optimize for flexibility but abandon equity...

You’re recreating the same logic:

Extract, forget, move on.

But systems built on invisible debt always collapse. Not because people leave, but because trust disappears before they do.

Final Thought

CBS data doesn’t lie, but it doesn’t explain either. That’s our job.

And if we are to be serious about governance, of companies, of societies, of ourselves, we must stop congratulating ourselves for optimizing injustice.

Lower alimony is not progress if women remain structurally disadvantaged.

Less support is not empowerment if it's accompanied by lower well-being.

Entrepreneurs understand this better than anyone:

The value of a system is not in what it pays, but in what it acknowledges.

And right now, we’re acknowledging the wrong things.

As always:

Structure reveals truth.

Clarity is an act of service.

And trust must be built into the architecture—not added after betrayal.