Mary Lyndon Shanley

A scholarly look at the evolution of marriage laws in Victorian England. Marriage laws favored men, with women having no rights in the marriage, including the right to hold her own property or to have custody of her own children. A group of dedicated, committed women (and men!) worked to change the laws. Many of the changes were small and piecemeal, but little by little, they chipped away at the laws that prevented women from being anything other than property of the husband. There were also some areas in which it appears the feminists (term not used then; the author uses it as shorthand) were somewhat short-sighted. The author explains what the women were thinking, and why they were at least partially logical in what they were trying to do when they resisted shortening the work week in factory labor to 56 hours or regulating the individuals/institutions that took care of children for their mothers. A worthwhile read, and one that might help you understand more thoroughly what these women were fighting against, and what they were fighting for. Then, as now, too many gender assumptions got in the way of truly inspired advocacy, but then, as now, there were at least a few people who truly promoted the idea of equality in marriage, in industry, and in other areas of life, without assuming women and men were the same.… (mer)