ABSTRACT
In Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, inequalities between men and women were the subject of many public debates. These debates encompassed the position of women within the home and family as well as in paid employment and civil society. Women had yet to win the right to vote in national elections although they had recently become eligible to vote and stand for election in local government. This chapter examines the model of the family which had at its core the 'independent' male breadwinner and the 'dependent' wife and mother, focussing in particular, on how upon marriage women were allocated the care of children and any other dependent relatives needing care as well as the provision of services for their able-bodied husbands. Marriage was a very clear contract: in return for care, sexual and domestic services a married man had to maintain his wife provided she remained sexually faithful.
