Legal rights of women in history
Most mentions of women were in relation to fertility, property, or sex and these laws dictated both the severity of the punishment as well as the way the situation was handled by the community based on the social status of the person in question.
In the absence of a dowry, daughters were to be included in the inheritance after their father's death and have legal rights to collect a portion of moveable goods from the paternal house.
[7] Though Mesopotamian law allowed a woman to function on her own, the societal norm was to act under the management of a male family member such as a brother, husband, or adult son.
Different sources talk about harsh punishments for both parties involved in an adulterous relationship, with early accounts claiming that if a woman was found guilty, she could have her nose lopped off and a man could receive lashes for such actions.
[15] The husband could also choose to divorce the wife if he decided to spare her life during the proceedings, or if he wanted to keep her, he would veil her to signify to the public that her status had been questioned due to the adultery.
Another example of the Hittites' acceptance of women holding significant power is Kubaba, who was a Mesopotamian queen who ruled in her own right during the Early Dynastic Period or Kish III.
To the extent a Roman woman in a free marriage lived beyond the daily supervision of her father, she enjoyed a higher degree of autonomy than most women in the ancient world.
[56] Working as a prostitute or entertainer made a woman subject to infamis, on the basis that by making her body publicly available, she had in effect surrendered her right to be protected from sexual abuse or physical violence.
[59] As a rule the influence of the church was exercised in favor of the abolition of the disabilities imposed by the older law upon celibacy and childlessness, of increased facilities for entering a professed religious life, and of due provision for the wife.
"[63] Annemarie Schimmel states that "compared to the pre-Islamic position of women, Islamic legislation meant an enormous progress; the woman has the right, at least according to the letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work.
Female education in the Islamic world was inspired by Muhammad's wives: Khadijah, a successful businesswoman, and Aisha, a renowned hadith scholar and military leader.
[Citation Required] During the eighteenth century, the Russian Orthodox Church obtained greater authority over marriage and banned priests from giving divorce, even for severely abused wives.
[Citation Required] Russian women suffered restrictions upon their owning property until 1753, when there was a decree, which ensured that noble families could secure a daughter's inheritance by making it a part of her dowry.
[86] After the age of 20, an unmarried woman, referred to as maer and mey, reached legal majority and had the right to decide of her place of residence and was regarded as her own person before the law.
[90] Under the Civil Code of Christian V from 1683, the law of Denmark-Norway defined and unmarried female under the guardianship of her closest male relative regardless of her age, while a married woman was under the couverture of her husband.
[citation needed] However in the late 17th century there are numerous accounts in Burke's Peerage of women inheritimg noble estates and or men inheriting via female lines.
By the eighth century, the preferred form of marriage was one between social equals, under which a woman was technically legally dependent on her husband and had half his honor price, but could exercise considerable authority in regard to the transfer of property.
Also, the reign of Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603 was significant in its visible and successful assertion of rights of single women to inherit property, to earn money, to exercise agency, and otherwise function as legal actors equivalent to single or married men; these rights contrasted with Holy Roman Empire legal constraints on women and were a significant factor in The English Reformation and English Midlands Enlightenment.
These rights continued to be suspended for many married women, however, who in many regions of England remained under legal disability during marriage under common laws of Coverture that traced from the Norman Conquest.
Several centuries earlier, some of its colonies in North America, including New Jersey Colony by its constitution, had granted voting rights to women who could meet the same property requirements men had to meet; common laws of Coverture requiring a married woman's property to be held by her husband meant married women typically could not qualify.
A glimpse of cruelty in the household is afforded by the provision, occurring no less than three times in the ecclesiastical legislation, that if a woman scourged her female slave to death, she must do penance.
She could be the constable, either of a castle or a vill, but not the sheriff, except in the one case of Westmorland, where an hereditary office was exercised in the 17th century by Anne, countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery.
By Magna Carta, widow's rights to property were protected, in sharp contrast to the Salic law, but a woman could not accuse a man of murder except of that of her husband.
In that work, the mercheta mulieris (probably a tax paid to the lord on the marriage of his tenant's daughter) was fixed at a sum differing according to the rank of the woman.
By the Leges Quatuor Burgorum, female brewsters making bad ale were to forfeit eightpence and be put on the cucking-stool, and were to set an ale-wand outside their houses under a penalty of fourpence.
Women were not allowed to inherit land, except under special circumstances, but the rule for the division of moveable property when one of a married couple died was the same for both sexes.
[33] But women regardless of racial background had restrictions in her autonomy in society for example her main social role was confined to home and family while attending domestic duties such as taking care of children.
[98] A wife could be ousted if she failed to birth a son, committed adultery, disobeyed her parents' in law[vague], spoke excessively, stole, received bouts of jealousy or suffered from an incurable or loathsome disease or disorder.
[100] Although they managed to outlaw widow burning, female infanticide and improve age of consent, scholars agree that overall women's legal rights and freedoms were restricted during this period.
[100] The British abolished local custom laws in favor of separate religious codes for Hindus and Muslims which had harsher treatment of women.
