Husbands & Wives, Dangerousness & Dependence: Public Pensions in the 1860s-1920s
Denver University Law Review, Vol. 75, Pp. 1181-1213, 1999
Posted: 9 Jun 1999
Abstract
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, states enacted public pension programs for civil servants, following on military pensions. In contests over who deserved these pensions, discussions in courts moved from an anaylsis of the obligations owed to the national government and the relationship between the state and national governments to an analysis of the qualities required to perform the work. Earned benefits were often considered to require masculine characteristics, considering marriage as part of a proper masculine role. When women claimed the benefits as heirs, courts would sometimes consider what made a woman a proper wife. This article discusses these benefits in light of assessing a sometimes close connection in state policy between heterosexuality and gender.
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