Divorce Standards and Legislative Work
Cobbe's stance of divorce concurs to the duties she laid out in Lecture IV. She views marriage as an equal union, where the union is supposed to push each other for the better, and not find solace or comfort in doing northing or being selfish for one another: “If the wife from the first cherishes every spark of generous feeling and noble and disinterested ambition in her husband, and he in his turn, encourages her in every womanly charity and good deed [...] their sacred and blessed union brings them together to the very gates of heaven” (Cobbe 135). Because of this idea, Cobbe thinks that divorce is righting an appalling wrong which is an unhappy marriage. Cobbe believes that divorce should be available to every women, and not just the wealthy women, but the working women as well, if the husband is being physically abusive or torture (Hamilton 453-454). These beliefs led Cobbe to advocate for equality among women seeking a divorce. Her continuous lobbying and hard work eventually helped the Matrimonial Causes Act pass in 1857 (Hamilton 441).
Cobbe's legislative work did not stop with the Matrimonial Causes Act. Cobbe was known, along for being a feminist writer during her time, as being at the forefront of the antivivisectionist movement (Burke et al. 2003, Hamilton 441). In 1875, Cobbe founded the National-Anti-Vivisection Society in London that campaigned against animal experiments. A year after its foundation, Cobbe published this Cruelty to Animals Act (1876) which details the regulation and control of vivisection with limited number of licenses per year and prohibited the public display of vivisection. This act remained active 110 years after its publication, until it was replaced by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act in 1986 (Society., National Antivisection).
Read the Cruelty to Animals Act below or continue to Marriage and Mary Lloyd to learn about another way that Cobbe challenged the orthodox in her lifelong partnership with Mary Lloyd.