In America, laws governing the legal status of women had been inherited from British legal doctrine, applied since the time before the War of Independence. The doctrine in question was that of “coverture”, in which a woman’s civic identity was considered to fall under her husband’s legal person. This meant that all legal rights in a marriage – over the body, over property, over decisions and opinions – were held by the husband. Husbands held ultimate authority over their children’s upbringing; their right was all but absolute. Coverture – how that word grated! The cultural belief in female inferiority, and incapability, held strong; men had a vested interest in retaining their privilege, and inequality seemed set to persist.
During the 18th century, at the time of the U.S. War of Independence, the common law doctrine of Baron and Feme held sway over conjugal relations, granting husbands unlimited access to their wives’ bodies, property and revenues. Women could not vote, of course, as their opinions were not sufficiently enlightened and they would be too prone to their husbands’ influence. They could not act as independent legal persons, could not own land or sign contracts, could not hold public office or sit on juries. Women were simply too irrational, too governed by emotion. The doctrine of coverture shielded them from their irresponsibility. Without a husband’s guidance, what would become of them? Women should be spared the burden of civic duty, the weighty demands of business, and the stress of mental exertion.
It is said that the founding event in the history of American feminism was the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, and its resulting manifesto: the “Declaration of Sentiments.” Deprived of their rights and excluded from political parties and assemblies, American women had first to champion their entry into the public sphere. Basic human rights would come later. They fought their way into the debate, sideswiping those laws and earning official respect. Then would come the social movements for civil rights, when white and black women marched together against slavery. Those black women, violated and dominated, were a symbol of the profound inequality that existed in tandem with racial segregation. These women sat on the lowest rung of the social ladder; lower than the black man, lower than the poor man. They were nothing, and deserved no more.
For almost seventy years, women pursued their struggle for their civil rights. The First World War would mark a decisive turning point. All throughout the year 1917, the Suffragettes kept a silent vigil outside the White House, brandishing banners highlighting the hypocrisy of a nation that criticized Germany for its violation of democratic principles, yet denied the right to vote to half its population. Though their protest was peaceful, they came under ferocious attack. Men hurled stones and insults at them; they spat at them and raised their fists. Police arrested Suffragettes on the charge of disturbing the peace. Inspired by their British sisterhood, the Americans protested via hunger strikes. Finally, they won the right to vote in 1920. In 1948 the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, a part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which established the eight-hour work day and minimum wage for both women and men. This would pave the way for equality and independence.
The 1960s and 70s brought about a change in outlook regarding the rights and duties of women within American law. Under the pressure of public opinion, which was becoming less and less tolerant of the forced dependence of women and the laws that undermined them, assemblies and tribunals set out to recognize that laws embodying sexual stereotypes were harmful to society as a whole. They would also recognize something of which the law of “coverture” could not conceive – that men could also depend upon women, and therefore that it was in their interest for women to participate in civic life as independent citizens.
In 1972, the struggle was ongoing. Coverture was part of the Old World, and America’s women would never stop fighting to be uncovered, protecting every crumb of equality they had won throughout those long decades.
Alan Alfredo Geday