ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses attention exclusively on the economic aspect of marriage, and to make clear what this means. Furthermore divorce is organically related to the institution of marriage. Further, divorce reveals and throws into relief certain institutional aspects of marriage, and it shows what is otherwise latent. The institution of marriage is, of course, complex and it is imperative to specify which aspect and which function is being studied. The proposition is that marriage is the institution by which gratuitous work is extorted from a particular category of the population, women-wives. If it is accepted that marriage gives rise to the exploitation of women, then it would be logical to suppose that pressure is brought to bear on women to persuade them to marry. Comparing marriage to divorce, it seems that the material upkeep of the husband by the wife is related to the participation of the husband in the financial upkeep of children.
