Women’s relationship with the law has changed throughout history. Dr. Sara Damiano, Assistant Professor of History, compiled an extensive bibliography that provides a historical analysis of legal issues impacting women from 1400 to 1815. From early colonial encounters to the rise of modern nations, Women and the Law, published in Oxford Bibliographies, shows how different legal systems impacted women’s lives and how women took it upon themselves to secure their rights and freedoms.
Beginning with the revolutions that spread across Europe and North and South America, the bibliography offers insight into how the law affected women’s speech and conduct, economic activities, family and personal relationships, sexual activity, and race.
Some examples are well known, such as the perception of deviant women being witches and “threats to the patriarchal social order.” Historians found that communities disciplined women’s conduct and enforced gender norms. Both men and women were involved in these efforts. Other legal systems reinforced gender binaries between boys and girls, citing different ages at which they were considered legal adults and different opportunities to seek an education or participate in occupational training.
However, not all aspects of women’s treatment under the law remained negative. Some legal systems provided women “considerable authority in matters of sex, abortion, and childbirth.” Overall changes in sexual culture were tracked through legal records included in the bibliography.
It’s also important to note how women acted as legal actors during this period. For example, Indigenous people’s ideas on land, labor, and kinship were co-opted by European legal systems through colonialism and empire. Indigenous women tried to navigate these laws to protect their families and property. Black women also mobilized to create paths towards freedom for themselves and their children.
Dr. Damiano’s compilation of research shows the different and shared experiences women have faced under the law. Taking all these experiences into account demonstrates how often women have been treated differently, as well as how women found ways to secure justice for themselves and their families.