“The world, to a happy child, is full of open arms….its mother’s, its family’s, its own. Life is. A child embraces its abundance, its half hazard treats and generosities, its scatter of good deeds. There is no pattern to its gifts and kindnesses and there is no plan.”

Episode 3 dealt with one story line that I would like to focus on – marital rape. Within the storyline we learned that rape within a marriage was not illegal. I decided to do some investigation both in the United States and in Britain. As a Modern Day Midwife I was quite taken back by how slow the courts and legal system acknowledged marital rape. Rape is nonconsensual sexual activity whereby the individual uses force, threats, violence, or any means to coerce sex without consent.

If we trace historical views back to the 17th century in England and Wales, we find Sir Matthew Hale overseeing law reform during the 1650s. He was the leader of the Hale Commission and then the chief justice between the years 1671-1676. One of his rulings became known as the Hale Rule, which states that a man cannot be guilty of raping their wife. It was felt that within a marriage you were "one flesh" and that flesh was male. In 1888, English Justice Henry Hawkins oversaw the case R vs Clarence which entailed a husband knowingly having gonorrhea and having sex with his wife. Again it was ruled that a husband cannot rape his wife. The judge was quoted as stating:

“The intercourse which takes place between husband and wife after marriage is not by virtue of any special consent on her part but is mere submission to an obligation imposed on her by law.”

For decades, suffragists, along with some influential politicians and writers, campaigned for marital rape to become a crime and that for equality be realized, a woman must be able to have the right to control consent for marital intercourse. However, the rulings and laws continued to be upheld. In the late 1970s, feminists from the domestic violence refuge movement began to demand a change in the law on marital rape. In 1978, at the Women’s Liberation Conference, they fought for changes in the laws for freedom for all women from the threat or use of violence or sexual coercion regardless of marital status. This is within the backdrop of a simultaneous push in the 1970s for laws to be expanded to assist men that were living together (co-habitation) to also be excluded from rape convictions!

It was not until 1991 that marital rape was seen as a crime in England and Wales. In the USA, marital rape became a crime in 1993; however, details of the offence can vary state by state. We have a long way to go to protect women as there are many countries that still do not recognize rape within marriage to be unlawful. Feminist lawyers along with international human rights advocates have much work to still engage in. As midwives it is essential that we screen women for signs of physical and sexual violence, and ask if they are in violent or abusive relationships during regular checkups.

Again, I commend Call the Midwife for incorporating a challenging topic and bringing light on a topic that needs to be addressed.

See resources below for help and referrals along with the National Coalition against domestic violence for information and strategies to be aware of.

“Once we start to grow—nothing is entirely innocent or easy and the best things in life are not gifts but earned….and even fought for. Love deepens, respect blooms. We share more than we keep, grow more than we reap or spend. Loss is endured and the heart learns to be steadfast. There is strength in all of this and piece by piece we are made whole.”

RESOURCES

Contact Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) for help and referrals to local resources. 800-656-HOPE (4673)

National Coalition against domestic violence: Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (PDF)