Married Women's Property Acts (jan 1, 1839 – jan 1, 1895)
Description:
The Married Women's Property Acts were laws passed in the United States that gave married women more property rights. Men would sometimes be away from the home for months or years at a time. Therefore, it would fall onto the women to execute contracts while her husband was away. Mississippi was the first state to pass this law that allowed married women to profit from their land, work for money, take part in contracts and lawsuits, and write wills. These were exactly the actions that married women were prohibited from due to coverture laws. Therefore, feme coverts now had the same rights as feme soles. This caused a shift in a women's gender roles within the U.S. Now that married women were allowed to make money, women were more motivated to work,
Added to timeline:
Evolution of Gender Roles
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