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George Mason University

The Political Economy of Gender Disparity in Law

Abstract

Throughout the history of England and the United States, judges and legislators have regularly found occasion to create and enforce laws that are conditional upon gender. In British and American history much of this disparate treatment under the law descends from the British common law doctrine of coverture, which effectively suspended a woman's legal independence upon marriage. Both the wife and any property she owned or acquired were seen as completely subsumed by the husband. Consequently, women faced severe and gender-specific legal restrictions on their ability to exit marriage, own property, and stand as independent legal entities.

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author
  • Lemke, Jayme S.

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Identifier
hdl:1920/8232
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:MARS:1920/8232

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
George Mason University
Base URL
mars.gmu.edu/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-27
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Lemke, Jayme S.. The Political Economy of Gender Disparity in Law. 2013.