We may never know the exact point in history when society decided that women needed to be controlled and chastised. In her book 'A Women's History of the World', Rosalind Miles attributes it to the fall of the worship of the goddess and the evolution of human thought. People believed that all new life began with women, a magical act with men appearing to have no part, but with the realisation of cause and effect, man's part in reproduction became clear. She goes on to say that in the millenia before the birth of Jesus, mythologies speak of the overthrow of the Mother Goddess, for example in Celtic folk myth, three wise crones meet the son of the war god in battle and after many clashes they are subdued and humbled before him.
The earliest reference to women being the property of men is in the Code of Ur Nammu, the King of Sumer who composed the first law code around 2047 - 1750 BCE. It stated that if a virgin slave woman of a man was raped, the perpetrator had to pay compensation, presumably to the man who owned her. Similar laws existed in the 18th century BCE in the code of Babylonian King Hammurabi. The killing of a pregnant maid servant could be rectified with a monetary fine. The code also shows the double standards already in existence, men could have affairs with maid servants and slaves but a woman doing the same would be tied up and thrown into the river along with her lovers. The Roman code of Paterfamilias entitled a husband to kill his wife if she was found to be having an affair however if the situation was reversed she was to do nothing.
With the growth of Christianity, attitudes towards women became worse, even though Jesus showed many acts of compassion towards them, for example the stoning of Mary Magdalene. The Bible teaches that women should be quiet, not teach and not have any authority over man. They are also responsible for bringing sin into the world, for it was only Eve that was deceived and not Adam. This is first reinforced in Genesis where God tells Eve her only desire will be for her husband and he would rule over her. Also with Christianity emerged the notion that women are dirty from the beginning of their reproductive life until its end. A woman was unclean for seven days after giving birth to a son but if she gave birth to a daughter, as if in punishment for doing so, she was unclean for fourteen days.
By contrast, in medieval Wales, at birth no distinction was made between males and females until after baptism at which time males were worth double of females. Men were still classed as superior however marriage was seen as more of a contract between both parties and the husband was not allowed to beat his wife at will. If he did find himself having to chastise he could deliver no more than three blows. The wife also had some rights. If her husband dishonoured her by committing adultery, he was to pay a fine and if he did this three times she could divorce him and retain her property and status. Both parties also had extended families to whom they could return. Under the traditional laws of Wales it seems men and women enjoyed more equality than other areas of the world, until the time of the expansion of the English state. The arrival of Catholicism also brought with it canon law which imposed marriage for life.
Canon law encouraged the chastisement of unruly wives. This was usually carried out publicly using devices such as iron muzzles that pressed into the tongue. The Derbyshire Brank for example was attached to a woman's head, secured around her face and mouth and prevented her from speaking or eating. A chain was also attached so she could be led around or secured to a spot. Men who beat their wives for no reason though were punished. Ran Tan Tan, an old folk custom drew attention to a wife beater in the community. An effigy was made, carried around the village on a pole accompanied by a crowd beating drums or kitchen utensils. The party would congregate at the house of the accused for three nights then drown the effigy in the village pond.
The chastisement of wives was reinforced in 1782 when an etching by caricaturist James Gilray was published. It showed Judge Buller carrying armfuls of sticks after reputedly ruling that a man had the right to correct his wife by beating her as long as the stick was no wider than his thumb. This law became known as the rule of thumb though some sources say it didn't exist in law. Even if it did not exist though Judge Blackstone in his treatise on English Common Law stated that a man could correct his wife
"for as he is to answer for her misbehaviour the law thought it reasonable to entrust him with this power of restraining her by domestic chastisement in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or children ...but this power of correction was confined within reasonable bounds as the husband was prohibited from using any violence towards his wife".
By the nineteenth century the law was not concerned with wife beating. In 1848, a Mrs Dawson applied for a divorce from her violent husband who flogged her with a horsewhip and a spiked hairbrush. It was refused. Women though began to fight back. In 1861 Elizabeth Cady Stanton made a passionate plea to the New York legislature to reform the divorce laws pointing out as she did so, the romantic views society had of marriage while within it laws that condoned violence towards wives.
By the 1870's many people, including men were calling out for something to be done and a cure that was suggested was flogging. Men were imprisoned for assaulting their wives but it was having no effect. It was believed the whip would deter offenders once they had felt the pain that they were inflicting upon others. The subject of violence towards married women was raised in parliament in 1874 though not taken seriously by the then prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. In 1878 a statute to amend the Matrimonial Causes Act was passed. It contained provision for wife beating, classing it as aggravated assault. Power was given to police courts to order separation if a wife was considered to be in danger. A woman did not have to cohabit with a violent husband any longer, as long as she could prove cruelty.
The first half of the twentieth century saw women take great leaps forward in the fight for equality. They won the vote and proved themselves capable of running the country and doing any job a man could do during two world wars. But, when the men came back, they were expected to return to the kitchen and stay there. Abuse carried on but was not talked about. Propaganda was used,the Latch Key Kids study claimed all delinquent children were the result of working mothers and the growing media of television reinforced the stereotype of the housewife.
It was 1974 when Women's Aid was established. Its aim, to improve laws and provide refuge for women and children escaping violent partners. The first Domestic Violence Bill was passed in 1976 and in 1978 a study in Scotland revealed one in four cases of violent crime was wife assault. A national domestic violence helpline was established in 1987 an in 1990 the Law Commission Enquiry into domestic abuse recommended change. 1991 saw rape in marriage recognised and made a criminal act and by 1996 the Family Law Act Part IV gave more remedies for protection.
Domestic abuse today is still a hidden crime. On average a person will be assaulted around thirty five times before involving the police. Their reasons are usually fear of not being believed or of repercussions by the abuser. It was working with perpetrators of domestic abuse that led Pat Craven, a probation officer to develop a programme to help and empower today's women by building profiles of perpetrators, examining the effects of being abused and teaching the signs of an abuser. She also looked at the origins of their beliefs and the beliefs that women have come to accept about themselves as to why they found abuse at home acceptable. Many cited marriage vows, (love, honour and obey), attitudes handed down by previous generations, teachings of the Bible, media and law.
To conclude it seems that law has condoned violence against women for centuries in order to keep them subdued. Women have been passed from father to husband, treated as lifelong children, imprisoned in a stagnant sphere where any signs of intelligence, outspokenness, disobedience or independence was met with punishment. The law may now have changed but the fact we still have and need organisations such as Women's Aid, shows attitudes towards women have not.
References
Daily Mail
Siegal.R (1996) Rule of Love
Craven.P (2008) Living with the Dominator
Hodgkinson.L (2012) Only a mad woman would call the 50's a golden age
Womens Aid (2008) Historical Perspective
Patterson.N (1988) Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium
Mark.J (2014) Ur Nammu
Leviticus 12 v 1-5
Deuteronomy 22 v 28
Genesis 3 v 16
Latham.J (2012) Rippingales Ran Tan Tan
Gilray.J (1782) Judge Thumb
Harwood.A (2015) One Survivors Story
Miles.R (1988) The Women's History of the World
Cariff Times (1872) The Proper Cure for Wife Beatng
