Editing Women's rights (section)

=== Family law ===

Under male-dominated [[family law]], women had few, if any, rights, being under the control of the husband or male relatives. Legal concepts that existed throughout the centuries, such as [[coverture]], [[marital power]], [[Head and Master law]]s, kept women under the strict control of their husbands. Restrictions from marriage laws also extended to public life, such as [[marriage bar]]s. Practices such as [[dowry]], [[bride price]] or [[bride service]] were, and still are to this day in some parts of the world, very common. Some countries continue to require to this day a [[Wali (Islamic legal guardian)|male guardian]] for women, without whom women cannot exercise civil rights. Other harmful practices include marriage of young girls, often to much older men.<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

In many legal systems, the husband had complete power over the family; for example, in [[Francoist Spain|Franco's Spain]], although women's role was defined as that of a homemaker who had to largely avoid the public sphere in order to take care of the children, the legal rights over the children belonged to the father; until 1970 the husband could give a family's child to [[adoption]] without the consent of his wife.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.abc.es/internacional/adulteras-espana-201009150000_noticia.html?ref=https:%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2F| title = Muerte por adulterio en España, un «derecho» del marido hasta 1963}}</ref> Until 1975, women in Spain needed their husband's permission (referred to as ''permiso marital'') for many activities, including employment, traveling away from home, and property ownership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm |title=Spain – Social Values and Attitudes |website=countrystudies.us |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> [[Switzerland]] was one  of the last European countries to establish gender equality in marriage: married women's rights were severely restricted until 1988, when legal reforms providing gender equality in marriage, abolishing the legal authority of the husband, came into force (these reforms had been approved in 1985 by voters in a [[Voting in Switzerland|referendum]], who narrowly voted in favor with 54.7% of voters approving).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/23/world/swiss-grant-women-equal-marriage-rights.html |title=Swiss Grant Women Equal Marriage Rights |work=The New York Times |date=23 September 1985 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988450 |title=Switzerland profile – Timeline |work=BBC News |date=22 May 2018 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html |title=Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote |website=history-switzerland.ch |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Shreir|1988|p=254}}</ref>

Another area of interest for feminists has been [[adultery laws]], due to the extreme legal and social differences between the way female and male adultery was treated in [[criminal law]] and [[family law]] in many cultures, with the former being subjected to severe punishments, up to the [[death penalty]], and violent repression such as [[honor killing]]s, while the latter was often tolerated, even encouraged as a symbol of male [[social status]]. In Europe, this was especially true in [[Southern Europe]], and honor killings were also historically common in this region, and "there have been acts of 'honour' killings within living memory within [[List of Mediterranean countries|Mediterranean countries]] such as Italy and Greece."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hbv-awareness.com/regions/ |title=Honour Killings By Region |publisher=Honour Based Violence Awareness Network |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> The tradition in [[French culture]] for upper-class men to have [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]]es, coupled with the toleration for [[crimes of passion]] (French: ''crime passionnel'') committed against unfaithful wives illustrates these norms, which were also supported by the [[French Penal Code of 1810]] (which provided for leniency for husbands who killed their wives caught committing adultery, but not for wives who killed their husbands under similar circumstances, and which treated female and male adultery differently,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/france/penalcode/c_penalcode3b.html|title=France: Penal Code of 1810 |access-date=23 March 2022}} See articles 324, 326, 336–339</ref> which remained in force until 1975). Similar norms existed in Spain<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/17/archives/adultery-law-favoring-men-issue-in-spain.html |title=Adultery Law, Favoring Men, Issue in Spain |work=The New York Times |date=17 October 1976 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> (crimes of passion until 1963,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.elplural.com/sociedad/leyes-franco-ampararon-derecho-marido-asesinar-su-mujer-por-infidelidad_278182102 |title=Las leyes de Franco ampararon el derecho del marido a asesinar a su mujer por infidelidad |work=elPlural |language=es |date=7 November 2021 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> and adultery – defined differently for women and men – until 1978).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://confilegal.com/20160514-adulterio-fue-delito-espana-1978-castigado-con-hasta-6-anos-de-carcel/ |title=El adulterio fue delito en España hasta 1978, castigado con hasta 6 años de cárcel |work=Confilegal |date=14 May 2016 |language=es |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref>