When I was a child it was not unusual to see small ads in the local paper: I, John Smith, of 25 Acacia Avenue, hereby declare that I am no longer responsible for debts incurred by my wife Mary Smith.
The belief that a husband was responsible for his wifes debts was one of the reasons why a married woman found it extremely difficult to get access to credit of any kind without her husbands explicit written consent - even if she had a good job & a steady income of her own. Even if they were separated.
The Sex Discrimination Act outlawed discrimination on the grounds of marital status as well as gender. These days most people assume that was to protect people who were not in a conventional marriage, but just the opposite was true. Discrimination against women per se could all too easily be excused on the grounds of these complications of the marriage contract.
How odd then that the Act was passed just as marriage, especially for young women, was going right out of favour. In 1972 getting on for half (44.3%) of girls aged between 16 & 20 were married. Ten years later that figure had dropped to less than 1 in 3 (29.3%). It is now less than 4%. Indeed we would probably be more shocked now by the idea of a 16-year old getting married than we would be by her having an abortion.
It is really fascinating to look back at the history of C20th marriages. Teenage marriages were relatively uncommon in the 1920s, but girls who were children during or just after World War II took to it with gusto - those born in 1951 held the record. Of course many of them 'had to'. The government even used to make official estimates of the number of brides who were pregnant when they walked up the aisle (still does)
And lots of other things happened around then which made marriage less attractive. Abortion & easier divorce, obviously. More acceptance of the idea that higher education for girls was a Good Thing, not simply a waste of money because 'they will just get married anyway'. And, last but by no means least, free contraceptives for all, married or unmarried, on the NHS.
Or did all these things happen because women had discovered that youthful marriage was not, after all, such a good idea?
