Sex Discrimination In The Late 1970's

In Roman times till the late 1800's in english common law, children were considered the property of thier father. Fathers had a legal obligation to protect, support, and educate his children. Fathers also had the right to sell their children or enter them into enforced labor. When it came to divorce, up until the mid 19th century, almost 100% of the time fathers got custody of thier children regardless of the situation. In the late 1800's society begins to increasingly focus on children's welfare as well as the affects of the industrail revolution. Fathers began increasingly seeking out work outside of farming or working in the village and mothers remained home as the childs primary caregiver. This devision of families where the male became …show more content…
Many states by the mid 1970's substituted the tender years presumption for the best interest of the child standard, and for the first time in history custody decisions were made with the consideration of the childs needs and interests instead of being based on the gender of the parent. The shift to the best interest standard opened the door for what came next, the decision of joint custody after a divorce. Instead of awarding full custody to one parent and giving the other limited visiting rights, joint custody was made to continue the parental role and status of both of the childs parents after they separated. This was created due to the shift in studying the fathers role in the development of the child and not just the mothers as well as fathers started to participate more in the child-rearing responsibilities due to both parents working. At divorce fathers were insisting on a greater role in their childrens lives. But also numerous studies were done the documented a sense of loss and alienation experienced by both fathers and children in cases where mothers were given custody with traditional custody arrangements. In 1979 California enacted the first joint custody statute followed by Kansas and Oregon. By 1991 more than 40 states had joint parenting statutes where this was either an option or a preference. Most other states recognized the concept of joint custody in case law. Today there are two times of basic custody arrangements in the United States, Sole Custody, and the more common joint custody. Sole custody gives one parent all legal rights, duties, and powers as a parent including the right to make all decisions for the childs welfare. In sole custody the