Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/759

 WOMAN

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WOMAN

f ion of the weaker sex has also been brought about by man-made hiws. The various disabihties imposed by law or custom on women have gradually been removed by legislation, until, at present, in English- speaking countries scarcely anything is needed to woman's perfect equahty to man before the law, ex- cept the right of suffrage in its widest extent and the admission of women to all national and municipal magistracies, which later will be the inevitable out- come of the removal of all restriction on suffrage. That the gradual amehoration of the legal status of women during the course of ages has removed many craving injustices can not be doubted. Whether, howe\-er, all the changes made in their favour will prove unmixed benefits to themselves and to the race, and especially whether the removal of all restric- tion on suffrage and the admission of women to legis- lative, judicial, and executive positions of pubhc trust, will be a desirable change in the body pohtic is doubted by many of all shades of religious behef or no behef, and probably by the majority of CathoUcs in official and unofficial positions.

In English the word "woman" is a contraction of "wife-man". This indicates that from the earliest times the Anglo-Saxons believed that woman's proper sphere was the domestic one. The earliest English laws treat consequently for the most part of the marriage relation. The so-called "bride-purchase" was not a transaction in barter, but was a contribu- tion on the part of the husband for acquiring part of the family proi)erty; while the "morning-gift" was a .settlement made on the bride. This custom, though in use among the ancient Teutonic nations, is also found in old Roman laws embodied in Justinian's redaction. King Ethelbert enacted that if a man seduced a wife from her husband the seducer must pay the expenses of the hu.sband's second marriage. As to property, King Ina's code recognizes the wife's claim to one-third of her husband's possessions. At a later date King Edmund I decreed that by pre- nuptial contract the w-ife could acquire a right to on(>-half of the family property, and, if after her hus- band's decease she remained unmarried, she was entitled to all his possessions, provided children had been born of the union. Monogamy was strictly enforced, and the laws of King Canute decreed as a penalty for adulterj' that the erring wife's nose and ears should be cut off. Various laws were enacted for the protection of female slaves. After the Nor- man conquest, even more than in Anglo-Saxon times, the tendency of legislation was rather to legislate around husband and wife than between them. The consequence was that the husband as predominant partner acquired greater rights over his wife's prop- erty and person. On his death, however, she always reclaimed her dower-rights and some i)ortion of his po.ssessions. At the same period the Scottish laws regulated, according to the woman's rank, a certain sum to be paid to the lord of a manor on the marriage of a tenant's daughter. We may remark here that the infamous droit du seigneur (the right of the lord to pa.ss the first night with his tenant's bride) is a fable of modern date, of which not the shghtest trace is found in the laws, histories, or hterature of any civil- ized country of Europe. The statute law of England dispen.sed women from all civil duties that are proper to men, such as rendering homage, holding military fiefs, making oath of allegiance, accepting sheriff's service, and the obligations flowmg therefrom. They could, however, receive homage and be made con- stables of a \illage or castle if such were not one of the national defences. At fourteen, if an heiress, a woman might have hvery of land. If she made a will, it was revoked by her subsequent marriage. A woman could not be a witness in court as to a m.an's status, and .she could not accuse a man of murder except in the case that the victim was her husband.

Benefit of clergy was not allowed to women in pre- Reformation times, as the idea was repugnant to Catholic feeling. Women might work at trades, and King Edward III, when restricting workmen to the use of one handicraft, excepted wom(>n from this rule. There were many early regulations as to the dress of women, the general prescription being that they should be garbed according to the rank of their husbands.

The legislation of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries hijs done much to reheve w'omen from the disabihties imposed upon them by the old statute law. The principle of modern Enghshlaw is the reverse of that obtaining in ancient times, for now the tendency of aU enactments is to legislate between husband and wife rather than around them. The consequence is that difference of sex is practically disregarded in modern English law-making, except in a few instances concerning marriage and children. In other matters the only disabilities of women that remain in English law are that they can not succeed to an intestate when male heirs exist and that they are deprived of parlia- mentary suffrage. In some respects women are in advance of men: thus, women may validly marry at twelve and they may make a vahd properly- settlement at seventeen with the approval of the Court, the respective ages for a male being fourteen and twenty. As to the custody of children, tlie law may now allow to the mother the full control of the offspring and the right of appointing the guardian or of acting as guard- ian herself, at least while the child is under sixteen years of age. In the case of illegitimate children, while the mother is liable for their support, yet she can obtain an affihation order from the Court and bind the putative father. Adultery is no crime by Enghsh law, and a wife can not obtain a divorce from her husband on such sole ground, though he maj' from her. Neither adultery nor fornication is punished by English law. Judicial separation and maintenance in the case of desertion lu-e remedies for the wife which have been greatly extended and favoured by late legislation. Action for breach of promise to marry may be brought by either the man or woman, and the promise need not be in writing. In the United States the Acts of Congi-ess deal very sparingly with women. The various departments of the Govern- ment employ female clerks and appoint hospital matrons and nurses for the army. Wives of citizens of the United States, who might be lawfully natural- ized themselves, have the rights of citizens. The questions of property, franchise, and divorce have been dealt with by the several .state legislatures and there is no uniformitj', but the main provisions under these heads will be noticed later.

While in ancient times women were occupied in the industries to some extent, yet these industries were generally of a nature that could be exercised within the home. The advent of the changed industrial conditions of the nineteenth century forced women into other employments in order to obtain the neces- saries of life. The advance was, however, very slow. In 1840 Harriet Martineau stated that there were only seven occupations for women in the United States: needlework, typesetting, bookbinding, cotton factories, household service, keeping boarders, and teaching. All of these occupations were miserably recompensed, but by degrees the better-jiaid employ- ments in other fields were opened to women. Of the learned professions, medicine was the first to confer its degrees on female practitioners. The earliest diploma in medicine was conferred in 1849 in New York State, and its recipient was hcensed in England in 18.59, though the latter country did not I)estow a medical diploma on a woman until 1865. At the end of the nineteenth century there were some sixty medical colleges in the United States and Canada that educated women. At present females are