While this measure seems on its face to have originated from some Taliban cult dedicated to the oppression of women, the measure reflects the sentiments of a radical wing of the women s movement that has taken root, to some extent, in our nation s law schools. That is only partly true. What the radical feminists want is the traditional special protections women had in more paternalistic days plus all the rights that they have gained in the quest for equality with men. Their effort to abolish male privilege while preserving and expanding female privilege is likely to create the very backlash feminists fear. The backlash envisioned by the Cato Institute s scholars and by the NOW Founders has many aspects, including increased violence against women and the reconstruction of the glass ceiling, but its immediate expression, in the event that SB 78 slips out of the legislature and is signed by a befuddled governor, will be a decline in the number of people willing to marry.
Marriage is in the best interests of society generally, and of women and children in particular.
It provides a sound financial base for the family and a constant source of emotional and cognitive support to children. Research consistently shows that married men and women live longer, have higher incomes, and better health than singles, and children raised in two-parent families have better emotional health, enhanced school success, and fewer delinquency issues. The State of California should not be about the business of discouraging marriage and abridging the rights of adult men and women to set the terms of their marital relationships. Finally, measures seeking to impose special burdens on men inevitably create similar burdens on financially responsible women. Please reject S. B. 78 and preserve contract rights that have been settled law for 80 years.