Final answer:
During Elizabethan England, the legal doctrine of coverture meant that married women had no separate legal identity and could not own property independently. Husbands managed their wives' property and retained the profits. Divorce was difficult to obtain, further binding wives to their matrimonial commitments.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the Elizabethan England time period, specifically in the realm of marriage and property rights, coverture was a legal doctrine which heavily influenced women's rights. Under coverture, a married woman, known as a feme covert, did not possess a separate legal identity from her husband. This meant that married women could not own property in their own right, and any property they did own before marriage legally became their husband's property. Husbands had the authority to manage their wives' property and retain the profits. Moreover, husbands could not sell their wives' real property without permission, but this did not grant women true independence.
In contexts where the husband provided basic necessities, the wife was legally bound to the marriage, as divorce was exceedingly hard to obtain. Education and professional opportunities for women during this era were scarce, with higher education and careers in fields like medicine, law, and ministry being widely inaccessible to women.