Editing Women's rights (section)

===== 16th and 17th century Europe =====

[[File:Malleus maleficarum, Köln 1520, Titelseite.jpg|thumb|Title page of the seventh [[Cologne]] edition of the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', 1520 (from the [[University of Sydney Library]]), a book endorsing the [[Witch trials in the early modern period|extermination of witches]]]]
[[File:Witches Being Hanged.jpg|thumb|An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655]]
The 16th and 17th centuries saw numerous [[witch trial]]s, which resulted in thousands of people across Europe being executed, of whom 75–95% were women (depending on time and place).<ref name="Mitchell">{{Cite book|title = Killing Women – Gender, Sorcery, and Violence in Late Medieval Germany|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oUfhZceOsrgC|publisher = GRIN Verlag|date = 1 November 2010|isbn = 9783640741830|first = James|last = Mitchell}}</ref> The executions mostly took place in German-speaking lands, and during the 15th century the terminology "witchcraft" was definitely viewed as something feminine as opposed to prior years.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Famous witchcraft manuals such as the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' and ''[[Summis desiderantes affectibus|Summis Desiderantes]]'' depicted witches as diabolical conspirators who worshipped Satan and were primarily women. Culture and art at the time depicted these witches as seductive and evil, further fuelling moral panic in fusion with rhetoric from the Church.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

The origin of the female "witch" myth traces back to Roman mythical night creatures known as Strix, who were thought to appear and disappear mysteriously in the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> They were also believed by many to be of transformed women by their own supernatural powers.<ref name="Mitchell"/> This Roman myth itself is believed to originate from the Jewish Sabbath which described non-supernatural women who would suspiciously leave and return home swiftly during the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Authors of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' strongly established the link between witchcraft and women by proclaiming a greater likelihood for women to be addicted to "evil".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title = Women in Late Medieval and Reformation Europe|last = Jewell|first = Helen M.|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0333912577|location = New York|pages = 123–24}}</ref> The authors and inquisitors [[Heinrich Kramer]] and Jacob Sprengerh justified these beliefs by claiming women had greater credulity, impressionability, feeble minds, feeble bodies, impulsivity and carnal natures which were flaws susceptible to "evil" behavior and witchcraft.<ref name=":9" /> These sorts of beliefs at the time could send female hermits or beggars to trials just for offering remedies or herbal medicine.<ref name=":9" /> This set of developed myths eventually lead to the 16–17th century witch trials which found thousands of women burned at the stake.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

By 1500, Europe was divided into two types of secular law.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428 428–29]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428}}</ref> One was customary law, which was predominant in northern France, England and Scandinavia, and the other was Roman-based written law, which was predominant in southern France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.<ref name=":4" />

Customary laws favoured men more than women.<ref name=":4" /> For example, inheritance among the elites in Italy, England, Scandinavia and France was passed on to the eldest male heir. In all of the regions, the laws also gave men substantial powers over the lives, property and bodies of their wives.<ref name=":4" /> However, there were some improvements for women as opposed to ancient custom; for example, they could inherit in the absence of their brothers, do certain trades without their husbands, and widows could receive dower.<ref name=":4" />

In areas governed by Roman-based written laws, women were under male guardianship in matters involving property and law,{{Undue weight inline|date=October 2024}} with fathers overseeing daughters, husbands overseeing wives and uncles or male relatives overseeing widows.<ref name=":4" />

Throughout Europe, women's legal status centered around their marital status while marriage itself was the biggest factor in restricting women's autonomy.<ref name=":4" /> Custom, statute and practice not only reduced women's rights and freedoms but prevented single or widowed women from holding public office on the justification that they might one day marry.<ref name=":4" />

According to [[English Common Law]], which developed from the 12th century onward, all property which a wife held at the time of marriage became a possession of her husband. Eventually, English courts forbade a husband's transferring property without the consent of his wife, but he still retained the right to manage it and to receive the money which it produced. French married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were removed only in 1965.<ref name="Badr-1984">{{cite journal |last1=Badr |first1=Gamal M. |last2=Mayer |first2=Ann Elizabeth |title=Islamic Criminal Justice |journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=167–169 |doi=10.2307/840274 |jstor=840274 }}</ref> In the 16th century, the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers [[Jane Anger]], [[Emilia Lanier|Aemilia Lanyer]], and the prophetess [[Anna Trapnell]]. English and American [[Quakers]] believed that men and women were equal. Many Quaker women were preachers.<ref>W. J. Rorabaugh, Donald T. Critchlow, Paula C. Baker (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VL_6X5zWOokC&pg=PA75 America's promise: a concise history of the United States]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''". Rowman & Littlefield. p. 75. {{ISBN|978-0-7425-1189-7}}.</ref> Despite relatively greater freedom for [[Anglo-Saxon women]], until the mid-19th century, writers largely assumed that a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal order]] was a natural order that had always existed.<ref name="Maine">Maine, Henry Sumner. Ancient Law 1861.</ref> This perception was not seriously challenged until the 18th century when [[Jesuit]] missionaries found [[matrilineality]] in native North American peoples.<ref>[[Joseph-François Lafitau|Lafitau, Joseph François]], cited by Campbell, Joseph in, Myth, religion, and mother-right: selected writings of JJ Bachofen. Manheim, R (trans.) Princeton, N.J. 1967 introduction xxxiii</ref>

The philosopher [[John Locke]] opposed marital inequality and the mistreatment of women during this time.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|title = Gender and Good Governance in John Locke|url = http://www.ajsih.org/index.php/ajsih/article/view/56|journal = American Journal of Social Issues and Humanities|date = 19 July 2012|issn = 2276-6928|volume = 2|issue = 4|first1 = Ikechukwu|last1 = Anthony|first2 = O. S. A.|last2 = Kanu}}</ref> He was well known for advocating for marital equality among the sexes in his work during the 17th century. According to a study published in the ''American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities,'' the condition for women during Locke's time were as quote:<ref name=":11" />

* English women had fewer grounds for divorce than men until 1923<ref name=":11" />
* Husbands controlled most of their wives' personal property until the [[Married Women's Property Act 1870]] and [[Married Women's Property Act 1882]]<ref name=":11" />
* Children were the husband's property<ref name=":11" />
* Rape was legally impossible within a marriage<ref name=":11" />
* Wives lacked crucial features of legal personhood, since the husband was taken as the representative of the family (thereby eliminating the need for women's suffrage). These legal features of marriage suggest that the idea of a marriage between equals appeared unlikely to most Victorians.<ref name=":11" /> (Quoted from ''Gender and Good Governance in John Locke, American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities Vol 2''<ref name=":11" />)

A paternal society can find prefer to make women's rights a man's duty, for instance under English common law husbands had to maintain their wives. This duty was abolished in 2010.<ref name="UKEqualityAct">{{cite web |title=Equality Act 2010 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15 |publisher=UK Government Legislation |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref><ref name="OldLawsOfEngland">{{cite web |last1=Sir William Blackstone |title=Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769) |url=https://lonang.com/library/reference/blackstone-commentaries-law-england/bla-115 |publisher=Lonang Institute |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref>