Life with Father

The equal-rights movement has bumped up against one of the most powerful bastions of male dominance in the U.S.--and moved it. Last week the men who sit on the Supreme Court, again with Douglas absent, unanimously ruled that an amendment to the Social Security Act granting aid to a widow caring for a child but not to a widower is unconstitutional. Taking a tough stand against sex discrimination, the court said that the Constitution would not tolerate the assumption "that male workers' earnings are vital to the support of their families, while the earnings of female wage earners do not significantly contribute to their families' support."

The case involved Stephen Wiesenfeld, 31, an Edison, N.J., widower whose wife Paula died in childbirth in 1972. Paula had worked as a teacher, earning about $10,000 a year; her husband, a self-employed consultant, had an income of $2,188 during the year before her death. Left to care for their infant son Jason. Wiesenfeld applied for Social Security benefits for the boy and himself. Though he won an award for Jason. Wiesenfeld was told he was ineligible because such benefits were available only to widows. Wiesenfeld sued in federal district court in Newark, charging that the act denied him equal protection and violated the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendment. A three-judge panel agreed, and last week the Supreme Court affirmed that decision.

New Payments. The ruling will give fresh momentum to groups seeking to batter down legal barriers based on sex. Wrote Justice William Brennan for the court: "The gender-based distinction [in the Social Security Act] is entirely irrational."

The Government had argued that the purpose of the law was to provide an income to women who could not provide for themselves because of economic discrimination. The Justices countered by pointing out that Congress had intended the law to allow women to choose not to work and devote themselves instead to the care of children. But without a mother, said the court, "it is no less important for a child to be cared for by its sole surviving parent when that parent is male rather than female." The decision allows for a new class of Social Security payments. The Government estimates that such payments would have cost an extra $20 million last year.

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