Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 4-18-2024

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

History

First Advisor

Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson

Second Advisor

Marc Lerner

Third Advisor

Sara Wellman

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This thesis serves to explore the greater questions concerning patterns of divorce in France and how women, through divorce, experienced greater liberties within the law. The evidence used in this paper stems mainly from demographic data, opinion pieces on divorce, and legal journals. While I had hoped to access specific divorce hearings, privacy laws in France and the language barrier prevented me from this type of research. Through my research I have found that divorce did not follow typical trends in feminist movements as expected in France. Instead, divorce was reactionary of the social perceptions of marriage and gender. Additionally, divorce in France liberates women more than suffrage based on the evidence in the law and the patterns of female movement. Throughout this study, I explore how different influences in politics, the world, religion, and social pressures influence patterns of divorce.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Available for download on Saturday, November 01, 2025

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