Although they may not have much else in common, women get the financial shaft worldwide in divorce according to studies by the United Nations (UN).

The UN has a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). A UN committee is reviewing its provisions regarding divorce as it impacts women economically.

In many countries, women are not legally allowed to accumulate property of their own and they don’t receive an equal share of marital property when they divorce.

As a result, divorce typically affects men very little from an economic standpoint, but women typically suffer significant loss of income and standard of living.

That is why the UN Committee plans to make recommendations intended to encourage alleviating the situation.

Although the recommendations will not be enforceable, it is hoped they will create a moral imperative.

In the US, where women are equal before the law, statistically, women often pursue uncontested divorces and waive valuable legal rights to escape domestic abuse, including economic abuse in the form of expensive litigation.

Read more in this Women’s eNews article: U.N. Tackles Universal Problem for Women: Divorce.