A Woman's Economic History
We are continuing our look at women and money over the centuries. Last week, we ended with the 1100s in England. Today, we go across the water to the Americas in 1718. In Pennsylvania, women could own and manage property. But only if their husbands were unable to do so. In 1753, in Russia, there was something called ‘separate economy’. This meant that Russian women could earn their own income and keep it for themselves. The husbands couldn’t demand their wives hand over the money. Just over a decade later, Catherine the Great founded the first state-financed learning institution for women called the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg. We return to the States in 1771. New York established that husbands needed their wives’ consent if he tried to sell property she had brought into the marriage. A judge would meet privately with the wife to ensure she wasn’t coerced and the signature in question was hers. France in 1791. Revolutionary France gives women equal inhe...