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This concept is called coverture. By law, upon marriage, a woman's identity merged with the husband's into a single legal entity. But in practice, all of the

This concept is called coverture. By law, upon marriage, a woman's identity merged with the husband's into a single legal entity. But in practice, all of the rights and responsibility fell to the man. Indeed the husband was also legally responsible for the misdeeds of the wife. This is because the wife was assumed to be acting under the orders of the husband, even if that were not the case. It was really messed up.

pmyteh 7y ago
It was, though it didn't last until the 1960s - the Married Women's Property Acts in the late 19th Century ended it. The problem with mortgages was more quotidian sexism, I think: women weren't considered to be serious enough earners to be creditworthy for a mortgage.