A Measure of Legal Independence”: The 1870 Married Women's Property Act and the Portfolio Allocations of British Wives

Abstract

I examine the portfolio allocations of women married the years surrounding the 1870 Married Women's Property Act. The act, which gave women married after 1870 the right to own and control personal property, serves as a natural experiment to examine the extent to which individuals respond to changes property law. I link wealth data to census information and find that, as a result of the act, women married after 1870 altered their portfolio allocations by shifting wealth-holding away from real property to personal property. The results indicate that the act greatly impacted the investment decisions of women. N ineteenth-century Britain witnessed a natural experiment with potential to change the lives of women: the 1870 Married Women's Property Act. The act gave women married after 1870 the right to own and control certain forms of property and thus provided them with the opportunity to change their investment portfolios and shift wealthholding to forms of property that they could both own and control. For this reason contemporary reformers hailed the act as a major achievement of the women's movement; however, there still exists a debate among modem scholars about whether women benefited from the act. Feminist historians have long regarded the act as a milestone the emancipation of women. A few argue that the act deserves a place in the pantheon of historical events and praise its impact on the lives of women.' Others note, however, that even after the act other factors combination with the law likely limited the ability of women to control their economic lives on an equal footing with men.2