Women's Progress in the Late Nineteenth Century

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Women's Progress in the Late Nineteenth Century Women didn't gain the right to vote until the twentieth century but great strides were made starting in the 1840s to help women on their way to winning legal privileges and responsibilities. Below is rundown by year of the most important laws passed in England to try to help out the situation of all women, especially working and middle class. Just imagine what life would have been like before these laws were passed. We read all the time about women who complain about being helpless. How often is that claim believed? Women were practically helpless and almost completely dependent upon either family or husband in the eyes of the law. Unless a girl became a wealthy widow or stayed a pitied spinster she had no chance of being independent. But as you will soon see, the road to change is a rough and repetitive one. 1839- The Infant Custody Act is passed. It states that any woman who can enter a suit and prove herself inoccent of adultery may have custody of children under seven years of age and periodic visitation with those under the age of consent (sixteen). Of course most women weren't independently wealthy so they couldn't enter a suit and the act also kept justly, or unjustly, charged adulteresses away from their children with no similar provision towards unfaithful husbands. 1857- The Married Women's Property Bill (two versions) One version of this bill declared that marriage laws needed a serious overhaul, that married women should have the same property rights as single women, and that women should have speedy access to the courts to gain protection for their property. But this version dropped out of sight. The other version didn't change the court system at all but did propose letting women control their own property after marriage, allowing them to dispose of it according to their will, and to apply the same inheritance rules to a deceased woman's belongings as to a man's. This bill was approved on its second reading but dropped due to the passing of the Divorce Act the same year. 1857- The Matrimonial Causes Act- The Divorce Act, as it was called, gave courts the decision on who to award custody to. This meant that women who had been found guilty of adultery could gain custody of their children if the courts thought that was what would be best.

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