The Progression of Women in Legislation: From Property to People

In this thesis, the transformation of the legal status of women will be examined. Beginning with a discussion of the common law foundations and focusing especially on coverture, this paper will provide a history of how women’s place in society developed through legislation as they gradually evolved from being recognized as the property of their husbands to being sovereign individuals. This progression for women was slow, and remains incomplete. Despite progress, echoes of patriarchal oppression still exist in law today.