Court Opinion

ID: 9755163
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:28:30.702825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:03.828559
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Spaeth, J.:
I join in Judge Hoffman’s opinion but wish to add a comment.
We should remember that generally speaking so far as the chance to earn money is concerned men and women are not yet treated equally. Suppose for example that the wife graduated from law school but practiced only a year, after which she had and raised children. If her husband is permitted to inquire into her earning capacity (the children being grown and no longer living with the wife), he should be required to prove not the earning capacity of “lawyers,” but specifically the chances of someone like his wife getting employment as a lawyer, and, if she did, what her earnings would be. This is implicit in footnote five of Judge Hoffman’s opinion but is not, I think, sufficiently emphasized. Nothing we say should encourage the lazy or reluctant husband, who would like to pretend that his wife has a higher earning capacity than in our still discriminatory economy she really does.