The legal status of married women

Abstract

The effect of marriage until relatively recently was to subject the wife to her husband's control while at the same time making him liable to maintain her and the children of the marriage. Both the French and Italian Codes expressed the authoritarian idea of the family by identifying the husband squarely as its head. All decisions affecting the family were taken by him and in such matters as the place of residence the wife was bound to defer to his wishes. As part of the general movement to put husband and wife on an equal footing, the old rules have been drastically amended in these countriess. In Germany the main changes were made by theh Law of Equal Rights of Man and Woman of the 18th June 1957, in France by the law of the 13th July 1965 and in Iraly by the Riforma del Diritto di Famiglia 1975. These statutes eliminated the ormal traces of the subjection of the wifee to the husband by providing that such questions as the management of the household and work outside the home should bee decided by agreement between the spouses. An atteempt to eeliminate marital authority was even made by the Maltese legislatorr way bacck in 1973. Particularly prior to the enactment of Act XLVI of 1973, which amended the Civil Code, under our Code deference was shown to the husband and father as head of the family. This was due to the traditional Roman Law influence of our legislation which typecasts the femalee into a purely domestic role, authorrity over er person and property vesting in her husband as a natural consequence of his so called physical superiority: 'E destino di lei in sin della creazione di avere il marito per capo della unione coniugale.'