Domination, Subordination and Struggle

The aim of the article is to modify our understanding of the history of middle-class marriage. It draws upon the detailed examination of one Wolverhampton couple's marriage to explore relationships between husbands and wives-and between ex-husbands and ex-wives-in early twentieth-century provincial England. It argues that patriarchal and companionate marriages co-existed alongside one another; that even in patriarchal marriages wives were prepared to seek legal redress for their grievances; and that even in insular and unfashionable regions of the country such as the Black Country the courts, both civil and criminal, policed masculinity and femininity in their assessment of where fault lay

Femininity · Masculinity · Political science · Redress · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law