Marriage as a Trade

"Marriage as a Trade" by Cicely Hamilton is a socio-political treatise written in the early 20th century. The book examines marriage from a commercial perspective, discussing the roles of women as wives and mothers as a means of economic survival. Hamilton's argument centers on the compulsory nature of marriage for women and critiques the economic disadvantages imposed on them, aiming to highlight the need for reform in the social and economic conditions surrounding marriage and motherhood. At the start of the work, Hamilton presents her rationale for examining the trade-like nature of marriage, arguing that societal norms have led to the acceptance of women's inferior status. She sets up a comparative analysis between the roles of women and men, contending that women’s lives are dominated by their function as wives and mothers, rather than as independent individuals. Through her exploration, she aims to separate women's identities and their value in society from their marital status, addressing the systemic issues that trap women in dependency and limit their personal agency. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Cicely Mary Hamilton, was an English actress, writer, journalist, suffragist and feminist, part of the struggle for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She is now best known for the feminist play How the Vote was Won, which sees a male anti-suffragist change his mind when the women in his life go on strike. She was also the author of one of the most frequently performed suffrage plays, A Pageant of Great Women (1909), which featured the character of Jane Austen as one of its "Learned Women."