Marriage in Culture: Practice and Meaning Across Diverse Societies

The basic sociological concept of marriage is the socially acknowledged and approved and often legal union of two people, allowing them to live together and to have children by birth of adoption. Marriage typically is the start of how families are created and sociologists like to study marriages by seeing how the union between two people expand or dissolve. Most common marriages are a monogamy, or marriage between two people. In some laws, a marriage not only is between a man and a woman but also between two males or two females.

The property rights of women during most of the nineteenth century were dependent upon their marital status. Once women married, their property rights were governed by English common law, which required that the property women took into a marriage, or acquired subsequently, be legally absorbed by their husbands. Furthermore, married women could not make wills or dispose of any property without their husbands' consent. Marital separation, whether initiated by the husband or wife, usually left the women economically destitute, as the law offered them no rights to marital property. Once married, the only legal avenue through which women could reclaim property was widowhood.

Dutch property law, in contrast to English common law, allowed women to own and transfer property regardless of their marital status.

For most of United States history, people considered property a man’s game. Upon marriage, the majority of property owned by colonial women transferred from the control of their father, or other male relative, to that of their new husband. With the exception

Prior to the American Revolution, women did not have the choice of having ownership of their own property. Whatever they had belonged to the husband, that was the head of her. “In her new status as feme covert, or woman covered, all that she owned became her husband’s property, even the clothes on her back. (Berkin, 5-6). In the 1760s, a women’s destiny was limited to marriage or spinsterhood. Their rights were much restricted. Women mainly predominately executed daily housewife activities such as scouring furniture, sowing, preparing a husband’s meal. “Her domain was the household, the garden, and the hen house…” (Berkin, 6). Roles differed depending on their social status and wealth, but overall women were not educated. If educated, it was finite to the basics. Men led the main role in economics, until the emergence of the American Revolution. Everything took a turn

In the authors paper she explains that men also made the women responsible of being nurturing mothers and called their wives dutiful which makes me angry and I agree with the author that these men were considered male chauvinist at the time as well as the society. For example, women were not able to own any property even after a husband’s death the woman’s eldest son would be the owner of the property according to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History by: Marylynn Salmon. Now there is still a law similar today to this in the state of Texas. For example, if a man dies before his wife, and does not leave a will Texas law says half goes to his children the other half hers. Which means she still has no control over her family affairs business wise.

Women had a right to obtain a divorce, buy property, or sell property for any reason necessary (Hammurabi’s Code). In the event of the husband’s death, the wife was guaranteed the use of her husband’s legal property and has the right to decide which of her sons receives the inheritance from the father

For example, “ women could not vote or sign contracts. And under the law the husband usually controlled their wives’ property,if they owned any, and wages , if they they earned any.” the quote tells us that husband controlled women lives giving them less option to do much of anything without the husband's consent or approval before he allows his wives to own any property in his household not to mention that she can’t even vote to choose the next president or sign a contract with the any company which

In the early American colonies, women who had money, schooling, or special skills were sometimes able to hold the upper hand in their household. Unfortunately, most women in the patriarchal family, did not have as many rights. They were to perform different everyday jobs and were rightfully controlled by

I understand that people were treated unfairly back in the days, but this “rule” was unreasonable. It was basically the practice of coverture, which takes away all the wife's power over her property. As I was reading “Argument Against Coverture” by Thomas Hertel it stated that “ the wife’s personal property...becomes vested in her husband, and she is fully deprived of her title to it, and her right to use and dispose of it,...as if she instead of being married, had been sold as a slave to a master...” This shows us that they were basically treated like objects and not human beings. However, married women were allowed to keep a gift that was given to them. I found that dumb because women weren't allowed to keep what rightfully belongs to them, but a gift from someone else. I wonder how many men voiced their opinions about them being against coverture and I wonder how man would have tried to stop it by supporting the women's suffrage

What is the definition of marriage? Over the years, the word marriage has been challenged from its current definition as listed in Merriam-Webster 's Dictionary as an act of marrying or being married between a man and a woman. Marriage can also be defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife. The word marriage becomes a special type of bond between two people that share the same desire to become the other person’s life partner. Marriage can be challenging between two people based on their current government state laws, in their religious and cultural beliefs as well as challenging to the word to be defined

rights and people saw them as the property of their husband. This is a new historicism literary

Marriage is a ritual that marks a change in status for a man and a woman and the acceptance by society of the new family that is formed (Rosman & Rubel, 1981). Marriage, like other customs, is governed by rules (Rosman & Rubel, 1981). Anthropology has represented marriage as the definitive ritual and universally translatable regulative ideal of human societies (BORNEMAN, 1996). Marriage also the act of joining two persons of opposite sex together to become as husband and wife. Many people in the society have different opinions or outright misconception of the meaning of marriage. While some people see it as a union between a man and woman, others take it to mean an agreement made between a man

Marriage did not affect a woman’s legal standing; a married woman had the same rights as a single one. This is because property did not automatically transfer over to the husband after he married a woman. Rather she remained in control of all of her assets until the day that she would die. Her land and her affairs remained hers, unaffected by her mate. In fact, a woman in ancient Egypt had the legal right to loan money to her husband.

In the common law, all women’s property except land and improvements went to her husband and it became under his control. “She” pretty much had no say in what happened to any of her things. Women were slowly losing all of their rights. If the husband wrote in his will that everything was his and none of it would be given to his wife, then the wife pretty much had no property if the husband died before her. If they had a kid when they were