Through out history women have suffered under a mainly male dominated regime. Women, although often wealthy & intelligent, lay much at the bottom of society with little rights, yet it was the late 19th & early 20th century movements that saw the shift in power & the slow crawl to equal rights for women. Women suffered with little rights in the way of property, few employment opportunities & hardly any political rights.However between 1869 and 1928 new laws allowed women to have more personal & political freedom.Women gained property rights in August 1870, this meant that women now finally were entitled to a part in their property if they had a divorce.
A small step to freedom. This meant that women could now divorce with out fearing an economic loss. Prior to 1870 the rights of women were dire & there were no laws advocating the rights of women.The first Great Reform Act of 1832 resulted in a 20% increase of men having the privilege to vote, a 50% increase to previous voting rights for males. This was the starting point for women as they realised a change in democracy was occurring & that they could finally grasp, or move towards the equal rights they deserved.Another change in 1870 was the 1870 Education Act allowing women to serve & vote on School Boards, this gave them a larger say in the system they now were a part of.
Many anti suffrage Politicians argued that women should not be given the freedom to vote or for other new laws to be passed as they did not have the same intelligence as men, however in 1874 the London school of medicine for women was founded & by 1880 women could study to the same level as men, this was a giant step forward for women. They now had degrees to prove there equal intelligence to men.On the domestic side of freedom women achieved much greater freedom after 1870 the married women's property act allowed women to hold their own income ; property, as a result of this it was now much easier for women to work ; to divorce as the 1882 act made it illegal for a husband to force a women to stay in his home against her will.The desire for freedom for women ; the right to vote increased after the years of 1870 for many of these reasons the gain in political ; social status of women gave them a taste of the freedom they could receive if the continued to pursue their desires equally the changing world around them ; female monarchy meant that women could now see their place in society was not at the bottom of the pit ; they deserved better. Women wanted a better future ; a future in which they had more power in other countries were also beginning to change there laws on women too.
In the home women achieved much greater freedom after 1870: in 1870 and 1882 the Married Women's Property Act allowed women to keep their own property and income, this made it more possible for them to work. The Act of 1878 made it legal for a woman who was separated from her husband to claim child maintenance. In 1882 it was made illegal for a husband to force his wife to stay in his home against her will, both indirectly gave women more power after 1870.Each law lessened men's power over their wives, and thereforetherefore increased married women's independence. Introducing a law which states that a man cannot hold his wife in his house means that he does not have such ultimate power: she could come and go and she pleased (e.g.
to meetings, suffrage marches, etc). As women were having to rely on their husbands less and less they had more rights according to the law, and according to their right for franchise.
