Surveys of judges' and attorneys' attitudes regarding property distribution indicate that most agree that a 50 - 50 split of assets is fair. To a large extent fairness is in the eye of the beholder. And each beholder may have difficulty seeing the reality through the lenses of unspoken preconceptions and assumptions. Psychologists have noted that American children progress through identifiable stages of moral awareness, moving from a concrete focus on events and rules to an increasing appreciation of more abstract principles as they reach adolescence. Significantly for marital disputes, researchers have also noted that males and females differ in both the premises and actions which flow from their moral sense.
Boys tend to see fairness as the protection of individual rights.
Girls are more inclined to view fairness as a process of assuring that their own and others' needs are met. Girl's tend to play cooperative, interactive games with less striving and competition. Disputes are minimized and more likely to be resolved by persuasion and appeals to a spirit of cooperation than settled by argument. To oversimplify only a little, men are prone to assume that fairness means that rights are asserted to protect one's independence and maintain a level playing field. Women, on the other hand, may assume that fairness means that the needs of all should met before focusing on an individual's rights.