Attempts to Shine the Progressive Beacon on Women's Inheritance Rights in Wisconsin

Abstract

During the first wave feminist movement, women in Wisconsin gained many rights, making them more equal to men. However, one area in which they did not become more equal with men was inheritance rights. When husbands and wives died without a will, their estates were distributed according to the state's dower and curtesy laws. These laws allowed a husband to inherit more of his wife's estate than she could of his. Although by 1921 women in Wisconsin gained the right to vote and the state was the first to pass an Equal Rights Law, inheritance laws remained unchanged despite the campaigning of a few who saw dower and curtesy laws as an injustice.