INTRODUCTION

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. CONTENTS VII
3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
4. INTRODUCTION 1
5. CHAPTER 1. What Kind of a Contract Is Marriage?: Married Women's Property, the Sexual Double Standard, and the Divorce Act of 1857 22
6. CHAPTER 2. Equal Rights and Spousal Friendship: The Married Women's Property Act of 1870 49
7. CHAPTER 3. The Unity of the Moral Law: Prostitution, Infanticide, and Employment 79
8. CHAPTER 4. An Ambiguous Victory: The Married Women's Property Act of 1882 103
9. CHAPTER 5. Parliament's Rejection of Parental Equality: The Infant Custody Act of 1886 131
10. CHAPTER 6. A Husband's Right to His Wife's Body: Wife Abuse, the Restitution of Conjugal Rights, and Marital Rape 156
11. EPILOGUE. The Search for Spousal Equality: A Legacy for Feminists 189
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 197
13. INDEX 207