Historically, we've seen marriage go from something that once only propertied classes practiced, to a much more democratic affair -- from polygamous to dyadic; from arranged to companionate.
Both of these provisions were created with the intention of softening the effect of the draft on pacifists, the anti-draft movement, and the propertied classes.
This presumption has been criticised on the ground that it is essentially sexist, or at least belonging to the propertied classes of a different social era.
In the propertied classes, this meant that a widow could exercise considerable power by managing the estates of her minor children and arranging for their marriages.
The state could control, after all, without owning, guided by a single party, the economy could be planned and directed without dispossessing the propertied classes.
