The Myth of Male Power by Warren Farrell

Author:Warren Farrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Published: 1994-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

250 Government As Substitute Husband

was going on. But if equality means a woman shares legal rights to the profits of a marriage no matter what role she plays or how illegally those profits were accrued, then equality also means a woman shares legal responsibility for any illegalities in creating those profits—no matter what role she plays. If community property is "couple profit" regardless of role, it must become "couple responsibility" regardless of role.

But shouldn't we hold a man more responsible if the financial operations for which he was assigned role responsibility get into legal trouble? Sure, if he systematically falsifies information despite his wife's questioning. But if the married man is held more responsible for finances that go legally awry, then the married woman should be held more responsible for children who go awry. No one even suggests we make only the mother financially responsible for damage caused by the minor "since the father was unaware of what was going on." We would say his lack of awareness was part of what created the delinquency. An unaware father is considered negligent, not innocent.

When a child goes awry, not only are both parents equally responsible but, practically speaking, the man usually earns the additional money required to pay damages. No one tells the mother, "You yelled at your husband for criticizing your mothering, so he backed off—so now you are responsible for the half million dollars of liability incurred from your son driving without insurance. You, mother, can either pay or spend forty years in prison." So the man pays when there's a mess up in the male role or in the female role.

Community property without community responsibility reinforces traditional sex roles: it encourages women to assign their husbands all the financial risks. By saying "You sign that legal document" or "You sign the check," she can avoid the downside of prison but receive the upside of profits. If he makes a fortune through tax evasion, inside trading, drug dealing, or a Ponzi scheme and gets away with it, she shares the profits. If he gets caught, only he goes to prison. In its present version, community property is equal rights without equal responsibilities. Which is not equality.

When a woman senses her financial innocence will allow her to share a profit margin but not a prison cell, she is usually unaware how her innocence makes him more likely to become guilty than he would had she been involved in the finances. The greater her fi-

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