Like me, did you have to stop and replay the police inspector’s response to the situation of the married character declaring her husband had raped her as he said, “there is nothing we can do; it is not possible under English law for a man to rape his wife; the offense doesn’t exist.” What?? Did he really just say that? Though it seems that it cannot possibly be true, realize that really until about the 1970s, most U.S. states considered it a husband’s right to have sex with his wife at his demand, as part of the implied contract of marriage. 

While spousal rape is illegal in all 50 U.S. states, the specifics of the offence vary by state. As of 2019, 12 states — Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia — had legal gaps that made prosecution of perpetrators difficult. A married rape victim in South Carolina had a time limit of 30 days to report the rape while also having to show there was threat of physical violence, for example. In Virginia, if a spouse agreed to attend therapy, they would not be charged. There are currently numerous countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Jordan and Libya among them — that currently do not consider rape by a spouse as a crime. Further, countries like Iraq have marry-your-rapist laws which enable perpetrators to go unpunished after a rape if the perpetrator marries the victim, and no doubt continues the sexual abuse.

There is nothing new about the victimization of women; we have borne the brunt of abuse at the hands of partners since the dawn of time. And in the interest of providing our children a home and provisions, women feel compelled to stay and endure horrific abuse year after year after year. I remember my own mother telling me about going to see an attorney to help her with an abusive marriage. She had one dollar to her name and five children at home. The attorney promptly collected her one dollar and proceeded to tell her that he couldn’t do anything to help her. Even when women and children can escape the situation, the alternative doesn’t always prove to be ideal as we see when Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) gets our main character and her children into shelter care. One point always clear to me from these episodes is how far we have come, and yet, how very far we still must go.

Speaking of families, we watch as midwife Nancy Corrigan’s (Megan Cusack) financial troubles surface. In her misguided attempt to buy daughter Colette’s affection, she digs herself into a financial hole that Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett) has dedicated herself to help dig her out. Though Phyllis comes across as a “tough old bird” she is always there to help one of her sister midwives. I’m excited to see Nancy be able to save enough to get her own flat for her and Colette.

On a lighter note, in the episode, we get a front row seat to witness Trixie’s (Helen George) culinary talents (or lack thereof). For the record, if I were hosting that dinner party, the very first person on my invite list would have been Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) – are you kidding? She’s the life of any party!