Annie Besant
Marriage
as it was
: as it ii and '
as it should be
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Marriage as it was, as it is, and as it should be
Annie Besant
In this short pamphlet, Annie Besant - a well-known British women's rights activist
- lays down British marriage laws as they were at her time. She opposes the view
of married women as mere property of their husbands, with virtually no rights of
their own, and makes suggestions for the improvement of marriage law, footed on
equality of the sexes. In the second part of the pamphlet, she advocates for a law
governing full divorce, instead of only the separation of husband and wife the
church was granting, unwillingly, if at all.
Although the pamphlet was written in 1882, Besant's views of equality of men and
women in both marriage and divorce law are surprisingly modern. Her ideas of
shared parenting in case of a divorce have not been realised until very recently.
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Total running time 3:12:08
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This LibriVox recording is in the public domain and may be reproduced, distributed or modified without
permission. The LibriVox objective is to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in
audioformat on the Internet. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org
Cover image: Elamantie (1982) by Kerttu Saariaho ( - 2004),
dedicated to the public domain by her son Markka Saariaho.
Cover designed by Availle.This design is in the public domain.
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