Divorce, American Style: Fighting for Women's Economic Citizenship in the Neoliberal Era (Politics and Culture in Modern America)

In the 1970s, the divorce rate in the United States doubled, and longtime homemakers suddenly found themselves at risk of poverty, not only because their husband's job was their sole source of income, but also because their insurance, retirement, and credit worthiness were all tied to their spouse's employment. Divorce, American Style examines how newly divorced women and policymakers responded to the crisis that rising divorce rates created for American society. Suzanne Kahn shows that, ironically, rising divorce rates led to policies that actually strengthened the social insurance system's use of marriage to determine eligibility for benefits. Large numbers of newly divorced women quickly realized their invisibility within the American welfare state, which did not distribute benefits to most women directly but rather through their husbands. These newly divorced women organized themselves into a political force, and they were remarkably successful in securing legislation designed to address divorced women's needs. But this required significant compromise with policymakers, and these new laws specifically rewarded intact marriages, providing more robust benefits to women in longer marriages. These incentives remain in place today. Indeed, in the thirty years since this legislative compromise, activists' efforts to grapple with the legal system created out of this crisis have affected such high-profile debates as the fight over the Affordable Care Act and the battle for marriage equality. Divorce, American Style contests the frequent claim that marriage has become a more flexible legal status over time. Enduring ideas about marriage and the family continue to have a powerful effect on the structure of a wide range of social programs in the United States. In the 1970s, the divorce rate in the United States doubled, and longtime homemakers suddenly found themselves at risk of poverty, not only because their husband's job was their sole source of income, but also because their insurance, retirement, and credit worthiness were all tied to their spouse's employment. examines how newly divorced women and policymakers responded to the crisis that rising divorce rates created for American society.Suzanne Kahn shows that, ironically, rising divorce rates led to policies that actually strengthened the social insurance system's use of marriage to determine eligibility for benefits. Large numbers of newly divorced women quickly realized their invisibility within the American welfare state, which did not distribute benefits to most women directly but rather through their husbands. These newly divorced women organized themselves into a political force, and they were remarkably successful in securing legislation designed to address divorced women's needs. But this required significant compromise with policymakers, and these new laws specifically rewarded intact marriages, providing more robust benefits to women in longer marriages. These incentives remain in place today. Indeed, in the thirty years since this legislative compromise, activists' efforts to grapple with the legal system created out of this crisis have affected such high-profile debates as the fight over the Affordable Care Act and the battle for marriage equality.__Divorce, American Style__ Cover Divorce, American Style Title Copyright Dedication CONTENTS Introduction. Divorce, 1970s Style PART I. THE DIVORCE REVOLUTION Chapter 1. From Alimony Drones to Breeding Cows: Women and the Divorce Law Revolution Chapter 2. From the Altar to the Grave: The Beginnings of the Feminist Divorce Reform Movement PART II. A GALAXY OF LAWS Chapter 3. Partners or Parasites? Class, Race, and Credit Rights Chapter 4. The Privileges of Marriage: Divorced Women and Selective Entitlements to Health Care Chapter 5. Marriage as Work, Marriage as Partnership: Divorced Women’s Fight for Social Security Chapter 6. “How You Lose Money by Being a Woman”: Divorce in an Age of Proliferating Retirement Savings Options Chapter 7. An Expensive Endurance Test: Compromising Toward Success in the 1980s PART III. STABLE DIVORCE RATES AND UNSTABLE POLITICS Chapter 8. “Responsibility, Equity; Not Cruelty”: Changing Venues for Feminist Divorce Reformers Chapter 9. “Saving the Next Generation”: The Changing Politics of Divorce Conclusion. No-Fault Divorce in a Morality- Based Welfare System Notes Index Acknowledgments "This book examines feminist divorce reformers, their relationship with the broader feminist movement, and their lasting effects on the American social welfare regime. It shows how the two distinctive qualities of the American welfare state-its gendered nature and its public/private nature-combined to encourage the breadwinner-homemaker model of marriage's use as policy tool. The linking of access to economic benefits to marriage, begun early in the development of the American social insurance system, shaped political identity and activism in the 1970s and has continued to do so into our current political moment. The result has not only affected policy questions directly relating to marriage but also limited the possibilities for expanding America's social welfare provisions. As a gateway to full economic citizenship, marriage has always served as an institution that protects and perpetuates class privilege"-- Provided by publisher