The booklet examines economic handicaps faced by homemakers and outlines a program for marital property reform. The document is presented in three chapters. Chapter I stresses the need for marital property reform by presenting case studies of situations in which a wife's contributions to a marriage were unrecompensed. Chapter II presents underlying assumptions of community property laws in various states. Topics discussed include problems in classifying property as community or separate; management and control of property; credits and debts; interpersonal contracts; dissolution of the community; problems encountered when couples move from state to state; and federal tax treatment of community property. Chapter III offers recommendations for classification of property in a model marital property system. Recommendations are that: (1) marital property should include all property, rents, and profits acquired by either or both spouses during marriage--except property designated as separate; (2) separate property must be formally declared; (3) all property is presumed to be marital property unless proven to be separate property; and (4) all expenditures from separate assets for family use are to be considered as gifts. (DB)