Quiet Revolutionaries: The Married Women’s Association and Family Law

Description

This book tells the previously untold story of the Married Women’s Association. Unlike more conventional histories of family law, which focus on legal actors, it highlights the little-known yet indispensable work of a dedicated group of life-long activists. Formed in 1938, the Married Women’s Association took reform of family property law as its chief focus. The name is deceptively innocuous, suggesting tea parties and charity fundraisers, but in fact the MWA was often involved in dramatic confrontations with politicians, civil servants, and Law Commissioners. The Association boasted powerful public figures, including MP Edith Summerskill, authors Vera Brittain and Dora Russell, and barrister Helena Normanton. They campaigned on matters that are still being debated in family law today. Quiet Revolutionaries sheds new light upon legal reform then and now by challenging longstanding assumptions, showing that piecemeal legislation can be an effective stepping stone to comprehensive reform and highlighting how unsuccessful bills, though often now forgotten, can still be important triggers for change. Drawing upon interviews with members’ friends and family, and thousands of archival documents, the book is compulsory reading for lawyers, legal historians, and anyone who wishes to explore histories of law reform from the ground up. Foreword Contents Timeline Abbreviations Prologue: After the Vote: A Note about the Cover Photo 1. Quiet Revolutionaries I. Chapter Outline II. Through a Feminist Lens 2. Housewives: 'That Vast Army of the Great Unpaid' Introduction I. The Root of the Problem: Legal Unity of Wife and Husband II. The Homemaker/Breadwinner Dichotomy III. New Feminism IV. The Married Women's Association: A Sub-Committee of the Six Point Group Conclusion Interlude: Juanita Frances 3. A Composite Portrait Introduction I. A Note About Biography II. Radical Beliefs, Conservative Methods? III. Portraits of Individual Members IV. Tensions within the MWA Conclusion 4. A New Marriage Law Introduction I. From Wages for Wives to Joint Ownership II. A Bill for Equal Partnership in Marriage III. Three Failed Attempts Conclusion 5. Mrs Blackwell Introduction I. Blackwell v Blackwell II. What the MWA did Next III. Blackwell as a Case Study of Family Law Reform Conclusion Interlude: A Note About Lord Denning 6. The Split Introduction I. The MWA Submissions to the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce II. The Royal Commission"s Response III. The Aftermath Conclusion Interlude: Reform Movements are Like Builders 7. One Step at a Time Introduction I. Developing a Strategy for Reform II. Housekeeping Savings III. Piecemeal Reform: An Effective Strategy? Conclusion 8. Resistance as a Reform Strategy Introduction I. The Context of Divorce Reform in the 1960s II. Resisting Divorce, Strategising Reform III. Matrimonial Property Bill 1969 Conclusion Interlude: Poor Reggie Why I Think Men get a Rotten Deal over Divorce By Reggie 9. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Introduction I. The Need for Further Reform II. Equal Rights in the Home III. The 'Meal Ticket for Life'
Backlash Conclusion 10. A Subterranean Influence Introduction I. The MWA'
s Influence Upon Family Law II. Lessons from Family Law Reformers III. The Relevance of the MWA's Campaigns Today Afterword Acknowledgements Archive References Bibliography Index