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A wife is a female partner in a continuing marital relationship. A wife may also
be referred to as a spouse. The term continues to be applied to a woman who has
separated from her husband and ceases to be applied to such a woman only when h
er marriage has come to an end following a legally recognised divorce or the dea
th of her spouse. On the death of her husband, a wife is referred to as a widow,
but not after she is divorced from her husband.
The rights and obligations of the wife in relation to her husband, and others, a
nd her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varie
d over time.
Contents
1 Summary
2 Related terminology
3 Differences in cultures
3.1 Antiquity
3.2 Christianity
3.2.1 Historical status
3.2.2 Contemporary status
3.3 Islam
3.4 Hinduism
3.5 Buddhism and Chinese folk religions
3.6 Japan
4 Expectation of fidelity and violence related to adultery
5 See also
6 References
Summary
The word is of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *wibam, "woman". In Middle E
nglish it had the form wif, and in Old English wif, "woman or wife". It is relat
ed to Modern German Weib (woman, female),[1] and may derive ultimately from the
Indo-European root ghwibh- "shame; pudenda" (cf. Tocharian B kwipe and Tocharian
A kip, each meaning "female pudenda", with clear sexual overtones)[2] The origi
nal meaning of the phrase "wife" as simply "woman", unconnected with marriage or
a husband/wife, is preserved in words such as "midwife" and "fishwife".
In most cultures, with marriage it is generally expected that a woman will take
her husband's surname, though that is not universal. A married woman may indicat
e her marital status in a number of ways: in Western culture a married woman wou
ld commonly wear a wedding ring but in other cultures other markers of marital s
tatus may be used. A married woman is commonly given the honorific title "Mrs",
but some married women prefer to be referred to as "Ms", a title which is also u
sed when the marital status of a woman is unknown.
Related terminology
A woman on her wedding day is usually described as a bride, even after the weddi
ng ceremony, while being described as a wife is also appropriate after the weddi
ng or after the honeymoon. Historically, her male partner was known as the bride
groom during the wedding, and within the marriage is called her husband. Traditi
onally, the bride or her family may have brought her husband a dowry, or the hus
band or his family may have paid a bride price to the bride's family, or both we
re exchanged between the families. The dowry was paid not only to support the es
tablishment of a new household, but also served as a condition that if the husba
nd committed grave offenses upon his wife, the dowry had to be returned to the w
ife or her family; but during the marriage, they were made inalienable by the hu
sband.[3] A former wife whose spouse is deceased is a widow, and may be left wit
h a dower (often a third or a half of his estate[citation needed]) to support he
r as dowager. A wife may, in some cultures and times, share the title or the sur
name of her husband, without having gained that title by her own right.[citation
needed]
Wife refers especially to the institutionalized form in relation to the spouse a
nd offspring, unlike mother, a term that puts a woman into the context of her ch
ildren. Also compare the similar sounding midwife, a person assisting in childbi
rth ("Mother midnight" emphasizes to a midwife's power over life and death).[4]
In some societies, especially historically, a concubine was a woman who was in a
n ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented relationship with a man who could not
be married to her, often because of a difference in social status.
The term wife is most commonly applied to a woman in a legally, loyally and sanc
tioned marriage, not to a woman in another cohabitation relationship such as a c
oncubine, mistress etc. However, a woman in a so-called common law marriage may
describe herself as a common law wife, de facto wife, or simply a wife; but some
times the female is described as "girlfriend" or "partner". Those seeking to adv
ance gender neutrality may refer to both marriage partners as "spouses", and man
y countries and societies are rewording their statute law by replacing "wife" an
d "husband" with "spouse". In a marriage between two women, both spouses may be
considered wives. Also, in a polygamous marriage, each woman is described as a w
ife.
Differences in cultures
The various divisions of the following chapters share the previous terminology i
n English language, notwithstanding religious and cultural, but also customary d
ifferences.
Antiquity
Many traditions like a dower, dowry and bride price have long traditions in anti
quity. The exchange of any item or value goes back to the oldest sources, and th
e wedding ring likewise was always used as a symbol for keeping faith to a perso
n.
Christianity
Historical status
Christian cultures claim to be guided by the New Testament in regard to their vi
ew on the position of a wife in society as well as her marriage. For example, th
e New Testament condemns divorce for both men and women (1 Cor 7:1011), and assum
es monogamy on the part of the husband: the woman is to have her "own" husband,
and the husband was to have his "own" wife (1 Cor 7:2). In medieval Christianity
, this was understood to mean that a wife should not share her husband with othe
r wives. As a result, divorce was relatively uncommon in the pre-modern West, pa
rticularly in the medieval and early modern period, and husbands in the Roman, l
ater medieval and early modern period did not publicly take more than one wife.
In pre-modern times, it was unusual to marry for love alone,[5] although it beca
me an ideal in literature by the early modern period.[6] Roman law required brid
es to be at least 12 years old, a standard adopted by Catholic canon law. In Rom
an law, first marriages to brides aged 1225 required the consent of the bride and
her father, but by the late antique period Roman law permitted women over 25 to
marry without parental consent.[7] The New Testament allows a widow to marry an
y Christian she chooses (1 Cor 7:39). In the 12th century, the Catholic Church d
rastically changed legal standards for marital consent by allowing daughters ove
r 12 and sons over 14 to marry without their parents' approval, even if their ma
rriage was made clandestinely.[8] Parish studies have confirmed that late mediev
al women did sometimes marry against their parents' approval.[9] The Catholic Ch
urch's policy of considering clandestine marriages and marriages made without pa
rental consent to be valid was controversial, and in the 16th century both the F
rench monarchy and the Lutheran church sought to end these practices, with limit
ed success.[10]
The New Testament made no pronouncements about wives' property rights, which in
practice were influenced more by secular laws than religion. Most influential in
the pre-modern West was the civil law, except in English-speaking countries whe
re English common law emerged in the High Middle Ages. In addition, local custom
ary law influenced wives' property rights; as a result wives' property rights in
the pre-modern West varied widely from region to region. Because wives' propert
y rights and daughters' inheritance rights varied widely from region to region d
ue to differing legal systems, the amount of property a wife might own varied gr
eatly. Under Roman law, daughters inherited equally from their parents if no wil
l was produced,[11] under the English common law system, which dates to the late
r medieval period, daughters and younger sons were usually excluded from landed
property if no will was produced. In addition, Roman law recognized wives' prope
rty as legally separate from husbands's property,[12] as did some legal systems
in parts of Europe and colonial Latin America. In contrast, English common law m
oved to a system where a wife with a living husband ("feme couvert") could own l
ittle property in her own name.[13] Unable to easily support herself, marriage w
as very important to most women's economic status. This problem has been dealt w
ith extensively in literature, where the most important reason for women's limit
ed power was the denial of equal education and equal property rights for females
.[14] The situation was assessed by the English conservative moralist Sir Willia
m Blackstone: "The husband and wife are one, and the husband is the one."[15] Ma
rried women's property rights in the English-speaking world improved with the Ma
rried Women's Property Act 1882 and similar legal changes, which allowed wives w
ith living husbands to own property in their own names. Until late in the 20th c
entury, women could in some regions or times sue a man for wreath money when he
took her virginity without taking her as his wife.[16]
If a woman did not want to marry, another option was entering a convent as a nun
.[17] to become a "bride of Christ",[18] a state in which her chastity and econo
mic survival would be protected.[18][19] Both a wife and a nun wore veils, which
proclaimed their state of protection by the rights of marriage.[20] Much more s
ignificant than the option of becoming a nun, was the option of non-religious sp
insterhood in the West. As first demonstrated quantitatively by John Hajnal, in
the 19th and early 20th centuries the percentage of non-clerical Western women w
ho never married was typically as high as 1015%, a prevalence of female celibacy
never yet documented for any other major traditional civilization.[21] In additi
on, early modern Western women married at quite high ages (typically mid to late
20s) relative to other major traditional cultures. The high age at first marria
ge for Western women has been shown by many parish reconstruction studies to be
a traditional Western marriage pattern that dates back at least as early as the
mid-16th century.[22]
Contemporary status
In the 20th century, the role of the wife in Western marriage changed in two maj
or ways; the first was the breakthrough from an "institution to companionate mar
riage";[23] for the first time, wives became distinct legal entities, and were a
llowed their own property and allowed to sue. Until then, wife and husband were
a single legal entity, but only the husband was allowed to exercise this right.
The second change was the drastic alteration of middle and upper-class family li
fe, when in the 1960s these wives began to work outside their home, and with the
social acceptance of divorces the single-parent family, and stepfamily or "blen
ded family" as a more "individualized marriage".[24]
Today, a woman may wear a wedding ring in order to show her status as a wife.[25
]
In Western countries today, married women usually have an education, a professio
n and they (or their husbands) can take time off from their work in a legally pr
ocured system of ante-natal care, statutory maternity leave, and they may get ma
ternity pay or a maternity allowance.[26] The status of marriage, as opposed to
unmarried pregnant women, allows the spouse to be responsible for the child, and
to speak on behalf of his wife; a husband is also responsible for the wife's ch
ild in states where he is automatically assumed to be the biological legal fathe
r.[27] Vice versa, a wife has more legal authority in some cases when she speaks
on behalf of a spouse than she would have if they were not married, e.g. when h
er spouse is in a coma after an accident, a wife may have the right of advocacy.
[28] If they divorce, she also might receiveor payalimony (see Law and divorce aro
und the world).
Islam
Women in Islam have a range of rights and obligations (see main article Rights a
nd obligations of spouses in Islam). Marriage takes place on the basis of a marr
iage contract. Forcing a woman to marry is strictly forbidden although it is wro
ngly practiced by many uneducated Muslims. The arranged marriage is relatively c
ommon in traditionalist families, whether in Muslim countries or as first or sec
ond generation immigrants elsewhere.
Women in general are supposed to wear specific clothes, as stated by the hadith,
like the hijab, which may take different styles depending on the culture of the
country, where traditions may seep in.[Quran 24:31][Quran 33:59][29] The husban
d must pay a mahr to the bride, which is similar to the dower.[30]
Traditionally, the wife in Islam is seen as a protected, chaste person that mana
ges the household and the family. She has the ever important role of raising the
children and bringing up the next generation of Muslims. In Islam, it is highly
recommended that the wife remains at home although they are fully able to own p
roperty or work. The husband is obligated to spend on the wife for all of her ne
eds while she is not obligated to spend even if she is wealthy. The Prophet comm
anded all Muslim men to treat their wives well. In fact in the hadith he even sa
id "The best of you are those who are best to their wives".
Traditionally, Muslim married women are not distinguished from unmarried women b
y an outward symbol (such as a wedding ring). However women's wedding rings have
recently been adopted in the past thirty years from the Western culture.[31]
Hinduism
In Indo-Aryan languages, a wife is known as Patni, which means a woman who share
s everything in this world with her husband and he does the same, including thei
r identity. Decisions are ideally made in mutual consent. A wife usually takes c
are of anything inside her household, including the family's health, the childre
n's education, a parent's needs.
The majority of Hindu marriages in rural and traditional India are arranged marr
iages. Once they find a suitable family (family of same caste, culture and finan
cial status), the boy and the girl see and talk to each other to decide the fina
l outcome. In recent times however the western culture has had significant influ
ence and the new generations are more open to the idea of marrying for love.
Indian law has recognized rape, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse of a woman by
her husband as crimes. In Hinduism, a wife is known as a Patni or Ardhangini (si
milar to "the better half") meaning a part of the husband or his family. In Hind
uism, a woman or man can get married, but only have one husband or wife respecti
vely.
In India, women may wear vermillion powder on their foreheads, an ornament calle
d Mangalsutra (Hindi ????????? ) which is a form of necklace, or rings on their
toes (which are not worn by single women) to show their status as married women.
Buddhism and Chinese folk religions
China's family laws were changed by the Communist revolution; and in 1950, the P
eople's Republic of China enacted a comprehensive marriage law including provisi
ons giving the spouses equal rights with regard to ownership and management of m
arital property.[32]
Japan
In Japan, before enactment of the Meiji Civil Code of 1898, all of the woman's p
roperty such as land or money passed to her husband except for personal clothing
and a mirror stand.[33] See Women in Japan, Law of Japan
Expectation of fidelity and violence related to adultery
Inca woman and man to be stoned for adultery, by Huamn Poma
Main article: Adultery
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