Women's Rights: 1839 - Present

Legions of law students in property or trusts and estates courses have studied the will dispute, In re Strittmater’s Estate. The cases, casebooks, and treatises that cite Strittmater present the 1947 decision from New Jersey’s highest court as a model of the “insane delusion” doctrine. Readers learn that snubbed relatives successfully invalidated Louisa Strittmater’s will, which left her estate to the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, by convincing the court that her radical views on gender equality amounted to insanity and, thus, testamentary incapacity.

Under the common‐law system of coverture in the United States, a married woman relinquished control of property and wages to her husband. Many U.S. states passed acts between 1850 and 1920 that expanded a married woman's right to keep her market earnings and to own separate property. The former were called married women's earnings acts (MWEAs) and the latter married women's property acts (MWPAs). Scholarly interest in the acts’ effects is growing, with researchers examining how the acts affected outcomes such as women's wealth holding and educational attainment.

Many issues were debated in the California Constitutional Convention, meeting at Monterey in September, 1849. While some of those problems were dismissed with little speaking, others aroused a flood of oratory, both demonstrative and fluent. One such question which was discussed at length and with enthusiasm was that of whether the property held by a woman at the time of her marriage should be reserved for her and protected from her husband by a specific article in the Constitution.

From the Library of Congress. During the nineteenth century, states began enacting common law principles affecting the property rights of married women. Married women's property acts differ in language, and their dates of passage span many years.

From Women, Enterprise & Society: A Guide to Resources in the Business Manuscripts Collection at Baker Library, Harvard Business School. During the colonial period and well into the nineteenth century, married women did not control their own earnings, nor could they legally own property in their own name. Under the law of baron et feme, an area of common law that persisted after American independence, all property brought into marriage by a woman belonged to her husband.

From the USC Digital Library. Women's Property Rights in California, pamphlet, 1929. The 26-paged pamphlet details California property rights of married, unmarried and widowed women. In addition, information is given regarding liability, contracts, taxes, inheritance and different types of property. The last page gives the locations to different bank branches that offer advice on financial matters regarding property. The pamphlet was published by Trust Department of Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles.