Editing Coverture (section)

== Analogous concepts outside the common law system ==
In the [[Roman-Dutch law]], the [[marital power]] was a doctrine very similar to the doctrine of coverture in the English common law. Under the marital power doctrine, a wife was legally a [[minor (law)|minor]] under the guardianship of her husband.<ref name=Lee>{{harvp|Lee|1946|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/introductiontoro00leeruoft#page/64/mode/2up pp. 64–68]}}</ref>

Under the [[Napoleonic Code]] – which was very influential both inside and outside of Europe – married women and children were subordinated to the husband's/father's authority.<ref>http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/crs1_low.pdf{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |fix-attempted=yes |url=}} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Married French women obtained the right to work without their husband's consent in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092212/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> In France, the paternal authority of a man over his family was ended in 1970 (before that parental responsibilities belonged solely to the father who made all legal decisions concerning the children); and a new reform in 1985 abolished the stipulation that the father had the sole power to administer the children's property.<ref>http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/France-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Neighboring [[Switzerland]] was one of the last European countries to establish gender equality in marriage: married women's rights were severely restricted until 1988, when legal reforms providing gender equality in marriage, abolishing the legal authority of the husband, came into force (these reforms had been approved in 1985 in a [[Voting in Switzerland|referendum]], with 54.7% votes in favor).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/23/world/swiss-grant-women-equal-marriage-rights.html |title=Swiss grant women equal marriage rights |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 September 1985 |access-date=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988450 |title=Switzerland profile – Timeline |date=1 January 2016 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html |title=Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote |work=History of Switzerland |access-date=1 March 2016 |editor-first=Markus G. |editor-last=Jud}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Shreir|1988|p=254}}</ref>

In 1979, [[Louisiana]] became the last of the states of the U.S. to have its [[Head and Master law]] struck down. An appeal made it to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1980, and in the following year the Court's decision in ''[[Kirchberg v. Feenstra]]'' effectively declared the practice of male rule in marriage unconstitutional, generally favoring instead a co-administration model.