Women’s Storied Lives

Marriage

Marriage is a stage in life that many young women long for. A grandiose wedding ceremony, the day-to-day activities of a wife, and spending a large part of life intertwined with a loved one are often focus points of many young women’s future plans. Yet, many women dread this long-awaited marriage. Up until quite recently, the legal status of married women followed a law known as coverture. Upon marriage, a woman would no longer have her own form of agency. She would be the sole property of her husband, physically and emotionally. This law, although slowly fading, still affects women today. This form of discrimination is not the only daunting thing about marriages.

Some women could not legally get married until 2015. Being a wife, prior to this ruling, could never legally be in the long-term goals of women in the LGBTQ+ community. Marriage became a sad reminder of the struggles they face in the real world. Black women, especially during slavery, faced a similar, yet different, form of discrimination. Removal from their husbands during slave trades, forced relationships with slave-owners, and post-slavery racism preventing relationships between black women and white men all tainted the idea of happy, peaceful marriages for these women.

Although these issues with marriage cast a negative outlook on being a wife, this is not to say marriage is entirely bad. These books highlight the ups and downs of marriage from 1800 to the present, focusing on the variety of experiences one can have based on culture, identity, or place in time.
 

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