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When Equitable Is Not Equal: Experimental Evidence On The Division Of Marital Assets In Divorce, Jennifer B. Shinall, Joni Hersch
When Equitable Is Not Equal: Experimental Evidence On The Division Of Marital Assets In Divorce, Jennifer B. Shinall, Joni Hersch
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Upon divorce, marital assets in most U.S. states are divided equitably, often with the underlying legal purpose of equalizing outcomes. To examine whether decisionmakers value economic considerations, such as opportunity cost, specialization, and bargaining power, we conducted a vignette study in which we asked subjects to divide marital assets equitably between an employed husband and a wife without labor market income in a wealthy household. Subjects award less than 50 percent of assets to the wife, regardless of her education or the level of marital assets. Men award lower shares but, unlike women, award a larger share to a more …
Settling In The Shadow Of Sex: Gender Bias In Marital Asset Division, Jennifer Bennett Shinall
Settling In The Shadow Of Sex: Gender Bias In Marital Asset Division, Jennifer Bennett Shinall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Divorce has a long history of economically disempowering women. From the time of coverture to the era of modern divorce reform, women have been persistently disadvantaged by divorce relative to men. Family law scholars have long attributed this disadvantage to the continued prevalence of traditional gender roles and the failure of current marital asset division laws to account adequately for this prevalence. In spite of the progress made by the women's movement over the past half-century, married, heterosexual women endure as the primary caretaker in the majority of households, and married, heterosexual men endure as the primary breadwinners. Undoubtedly, women …