I just ran across a story with the following link to a definition of "coverture."
. . .in most nations. The state or condition of a married woman. During coverture, the being of the wife is civilly merged, for many purposes, into that of her husband; she can, therefore, in general, make no contracts without his consent, express or implied. To this rule there are some exceptions: she may contract when it is for her benefit, such as to save her from starvation. In some cases, when coercion has been used by the husband to induce her to commit crime, she is exempted from punishment.
In 2301 we will cover civil rights in a month or so. This fits with our overview of gender discrimination.
On that note, I heard an interesting related story regarding the founding of Houston. The conventional story is that the Allen Brothers founded the city. The revised version is that is was actually done by their mother, she came up with the idea of a port city on the gulf and had the money to do it, but law did not allow her to sign contracts. Only her sons could. That's why they did it.
- Wikipedia: Coverture.
