History of the Family

3.6 million BCE Tanzania

Footprints in Laetoli suggest a group on the move, with three early humans of differing ages walking upright alongside one another. The footprints are older than the oldest findings of stone tools.

40,000 BCE Iberian Peninsula

The first cave paintings date from the period when homo sapiens settled in Western Europe. The people of these communities, whose organizational structures are unknown to us, left handprints on cave walls.

3.6 million BCE Tanzania

Footprints in Laetoli suggest a group on the move, with three early humans of differing ages walking upright alongside one another. The footprints are older than the oldest findings of stone tools.

40,000 BCE Iberian Peninsula

The first cave paintings date from the period when homo sapiens settled in Western Europe. The people of these communities, whose organizational structures are unknown to us, left handprints on cave walls.

3.6 million BCE Tanzania

Footprints in Laetoli suggest a group on the move, with three early humans of differing ages walking upright alongside one another. The footprints are older than the oldest findings of stone tools.

40,000 BCE Iberian Peninsula

The first cave paintings date from the period when homo sapiens settled in Western Europe. The people of these communities, whose organizational structures are unknown to us, left handprints on cave walls.

4000 BCE China

The division of villages and the separation of women’s and men’s graves indicate that matrilineally organized societies predated the emergence of tribal organizations.

5000 BCE Predonica, near Pristina

A Neolithic clay statuette from the Vinca culture appears to represent the eternal motif of mother and child.

6000 BCE Western Europe

Collective graves, like the Grave of La Chaussée-Tirancourt near Amiens, contain the bodies of male and female members of a social group that appears to have been a family.

4000 BCE China

The division of villages and the separation of women’s and men’s graves indicate that matrilineally organized societies predated the emergence of tribal organizations.

5000 BCE Predonica, near Pristina

A Neolithic clay statuette from the Vinca culture appears to represent the eternal motif of mother and child.

6000 BCE Western Europe

Collective graves, like the Grave of La Chaussée-Tirancourt near Amiens, contain the bodies of male and female members of a social group that appears to have been a family.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

3000 BCE South America

Villages arise beside lakes and rivers. Agrarian production leads to new forms of settlement and organizational structures.

-3000

2270 Mesopotamia

The Obelisk of Manishtusu documents purchases of land and various family members’ entitlement to that land. This makes it possible to construct family trees. The names of mothers, daughters, wives, and grandchildren are missing.

2600 Tello, Iraq

The sandstone relief of the “figure aux plumes” (Paris, Louvre) contains scored marks documenting the transfer of land between families.

2500 BCE Egypt

Egyptians and Assyrians believe that having a son and heir is vitally important. He organizes the funerary practices and ensures that the family’s name lives on.

2500 BCE Egypt

The teachings of Ptahhotep contain advice from a father to his son: “If you are doing well, establish a household and honour your wife within, as is fit and proper… She is a fertile field for her lord.”

2270 Mesopotamia

The Obelisk of Manishtusu documents purchases of land and various family members’ entitlement to that land. This makes it possible to construct family trees. The names of mothers, daughters, wives, and grandchildren are missing.

2600 Tello, Iraq

The sandstone relief of the “figure aux plumes” (Paris, Louvre) contains scored marks documenting the transfer of land between families.

2500 BCE Egypt

Egyptians and Assyrians believe that having a son and heir is vitally important. He organizes the funerary practices and ensures that the family’s name lives on.

2500 BCE Egypt

The teachings of Ptahhotep contain advice from a father to his son: “If you are doing well, establish a household and honour your wife within, as is fit and proper… She is a fertile field for her lord.”

-2570

2070 BCE China

Nüwa (女娲), the goddess of creation in prehistoric Chinese mythology, creates humanity out of clay in her own image, establishes human society, and institutionalizes marriage.

2000 Mesopotamia

The representatives of the future husband choose a wife and pay a bride price to her family. The marriage is cemented with a verbal declaration: “She is assuredly my wife.” A wife is subject to the guardianship of her mother-in-law.

c.2000 Mesopotamia

Adoption is generally regarded as a two-way legal process. One can adopt relatives or even one’s own father. It is a way of liberating enslaved people, safeguarding the line of succession, arranging marriages, and ensuring that there will be descendants.

2000 Mesopotamia

When Babylonians and Assyrians describe a house (bitum), it includes not only the building itself but also all of its residents, auxiliary buildings, possessions, and land. Later the meaning expands to mean a family dynasty.

2000 Mesopotamia

The most common family unit in Babylonia is the monogamous nuclear family: father, mother, and unmarried children. It is patriarchal, based on paternal power and descent down the male line.

2000 BCE North America

Among Indigenous groups on the Plains, kinship is determined through the paternal line. When men are the main breadwinners, there is often a focus on male heirs and paternal links.

1800 BCE North America

The family is an integral component of the overall social structure in many Indigenous societies. Its tasks are often closely associated with providing for the community and ensuring its well-being.

-2150

1500 Mesopotamia

This fragment of a terracotta relief (Paris, Louvre) shows a man and a woman as a couple, facing one another in an embrace.

1500 BCE India

“Immediately on the birth of his first-born a man is (called) the father of a son and is freed from the debt to the manes [dead ancestors]; that (son), therefore, is worthy (to receive) the whole estate.” Manu IX, 106

1500 BCE North America

Marriages are often based on practical and social requirements. Polygynous marriage (one husband with several wives) is common when resources and agricultural work necessitate larger families.

1200–400 BCE South America

Trading networks emerge within and between regions. Several kinship groups are given preferential access to resources.

1500 BCE India

Society is organized into four hierarchical castes: priests, warrior nobility, merchants/farmers, and labourers. Hindus marry within their caste. The householder stands at the head of the extended family (Hindu joint family).

1754 Babylon

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest collections of legislation in the world, with around 282 laws governing matters such as family law and property issues.

1500 BCE India

Sannyasin, followers of a spiritual Hindu practice, renounce the worldly, reject family and all forms of ownership, and opt for homelessness.

1500 Phoenicia

The Phoenicians have their own family customs. Polygamy is permitted, and marriages are often arranged for political or economic reasons.

-1715

700 Jerusalem

In Judaism, procreation and the family are regulated according to a divine plan: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Gen. 2:24

1114 Mesopotamia

A compendium of rules governs life in the palace: court etiquette, palace women, married women in the service of the palace, eunuchs, and palace staff.

1150 Mesopotamia

The Assyrian king Ninurta-tukulti-Ashshur lives with 40 secondary wives. Polygamy is a status symbol; the richer a man is, the more women he has. Unlike the queen, the palace women (sekretu) live in isolation.

9th–3th c. BCE Eurasia

Scythian and Sarmatian women are respected in society and experienced in battle. They are buried with weapons and armour. They are already associated with the Amazons in classical antiquity.

8th c. BCE Greece

In the Iliad, one of Europe’s oldest written works, family affiliation dominates the emotional and moral decisions of the protagonists.

1000 BCE North America

Most Indigenous cultures feature kinship networks that incorporate extended family members: grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

1100 BCE China (Zhou Dynasty)

Unlike the feudal nobility, the “common people” have no clan names. Ancestor worship is not practised, and kinship relationships are only differentiated by generation.

1000 Egypt

A person’s spouse is chosen by their father. The contract is only concluded after the birth of the first child. Sibling marriages, polygamous marriages, same-sex love, and divorce are all permitted.

11th c. BCE China (Zhou Dynasty)

The dynastic inheritance of political functions resembles feudal genealogies: the king (wang) at the head with sons and closest vassals following at the same level. Vassal relationships and kinship ties extend to five generations.

1100 BCE China (Zhou Dynasty)

The feudal system bounds the transfer of power to bloodlines. Primogeniture institutionalizes family hierarchies as a state principle. Family and state are structurally the same.

900–400 BCE South America

Local Maya rulers attribute their status to ancestors and gods. Temple buildings reflect the central role of ancestor worship. Power is inherited through the paternal line.

700 Jerusalem

Concubinage is part of the Jewish tradition. The concubine is legally recognized, and her wealth is administered by her husband. If they separate she receives it back. Although her children are part of the family, they have lower status.

-1285

753 BCE Roman Kingdom

The foundation myth of Rome begins with the wet nurse Lupa, the she-wolf who suckles and protects the city’s two founders, Romulus and Remus, who are the children of Mars, the god of war, and the priestess Rhea Silvia.

5th c. BCE China

The philosopher Mozi (墨子) criticizes Confucianism’s family centredness, extravagant burial ceremonies, and ancestor worship. He advocates an ethics of general human caring, which extends beyond the close family circle.

450 BCE Roman Republic

According to the Law of the Twelve Tables, the pater familias enjoys vitae necisque potestas – the power of life and death over family members, domestic employees, and slaves. He represents the family in dealings with the outside world.

From 5th c. BCE Greece/Rome

Unwanted babies, especially girls, are abandoned at the periphery of the town or near temples – like Oedipus in the Greek myth. Infant exposure is also customary in China and Egypt.

5th–1st c. BCE India/Nepal

The pātimokkha set of monastic rules is established. Celibacy is introduced for Buddhist nuns and monks with the aim of eliminating all attachment to property and family. Sexual intercourse is grounds for expulsion.

6th c. BCE Roman Republic

The word familia first appears in texts from antiquity. It denotes a social and legal unit comprising all the people living and working in a household, not limited to blood relatives.

520–510 BCE Cerverteri, Italy

The Sarcophagus of the Spouses (Paris, Louvre) shows a husband and wife reclining on a couch, propped up on their elbows. The self-assurance of Etruscan women is tangible, as is the atmosphere of conjugal intimacy, which is rarely depicted in Greek art of the time.

6th–5th c. BCE China

The Confucian Yili, a book of ritual, defines four degrees of mourning with varying mourning periods and clothing according to the degree of kinship. Direct relatives (father and grandfather) are mourned for long periods. The periods for cognate relatives or relatives by marriage are shorter.

5th c. BCE China

Confucian ethics are based on a child’s love, respect, and sense of obligation towards parents and ancestors (孝, xiàoshùn – filial piety). A system of behavioural rules and rights develops out of the relationship to the family clan.

5th c. Levant, Palestine

The Torah has a patriarchal influence on the family. If a man dies without a son, his brother must marry the widow in order to secure the inheritance (levirate marriage). Male descendants inherit, while female heirs remain an exception.

8th–7th c. BCE Greece

In Homer’s Odyssey, the family has a central emotional significance, standing for the homeland and a sense of belonging. Odysseus’s journey and his return to Ithaca are dominated by the longing for his family.

-860

200 BCE China

The Erya, the oldest Chinese dictionary, defines 340 different family relationships. These terms are based on gender, age, generation, and filiation.

300 BCE India

It is not uncommon for loyal wives to be burned alive on their dead husbands’ funeral pyres. Alexander the Great reported on this practice of sati, which continued into the 19th century.

200 BCE India

Marriage is the holy sacrament in Hindu legal texts. The father hands over the bride: the bridal gift. Polygamy is allowed. The second wife can be of a caste one degree lower.

100 BCE China

Confucianism spreads. Its teachings of the five relationships define hierarchies in the family and society, between father and son and between husband and wife. Respect and reverence for parents and ancestors are fundamental to the family concept.

200 BCE India

“A Brahmana who takes a Sudra wife to his bed, will (after death) sink into hell; if he begets a child by her, he will lose the rank of a Brahmana.” Manu III,17

356 – 350 BCE China

Shang Yang’s legal reforms break up extended families and promote the establishment of the nuclear family. The aim of “one household, one conscript” strengthens state power by intentionally weakening large family clan structures.

4th c. BCE Roman Republic

Political alliances can be cemented by adoption. A pater familias can release people of his household – children, men, and later women as well – for adoption. Adoptees take the name of their adoptive father.

c.140 BCE China (Han Dynasty)

Confucianism becomes state ideology, leading to a strong family ethic. Filial piety (孝) towards one’s parents, a key aspect of Confucian ethics, becomes a selection criterion for civil servants.

335 –22 BCE Greece

For Aristotle, the household or oikos is made up of three relationships: between master and slaves, between man and wife, and between father and children. The family is important for the political order between the individual and the polis.

375 BCE Greece

In the Republic, Plato criticizes the law of inheritance, holding that it leads to inequality and social tension. He recommends distributing legacies and preventing the accumulation of wealth in order to ensure social stability.

300 Egypt

Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II are the first pair of Greek siblings to become pharaohs. Their sibling marriage violates Greek and Roman law: “He acted…in accordance with the customs of the Egyptians, his subjects.”

200 BCE – 200 CE India

The Manusmriti or “laws of Manu” prescribe social obligations and appropriate behaviour from a Brahminical perspective. It is the most important source document for the caste system.

-430

100 Roman Empire

In classical Latin, there are different words for paternal (patruus, amita) and maternal (avunculus, matertera) aunts and uncles. This distinction is already obsolete by the time the patrician Abbo writes his will in the year 739.

111 BCE – 939 CE Vietnam

The family remains the basis of social order under Chinese and Confucian influence. Obedience of children to their parents and women to their fathers, husbands, and oldest sons remains central.

1st c. Egypt

The new Jewish marriage law prohibits sex before marriage, incest, marriage to daughters from other ethnic groups, marriage to infertile women, remarriage, contact during menstruation, and same-sex relationships.

1st c. Jerusalem

Baptising newborn babies becomes ever more common in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, especially in the Roman church. A family is increasingly viewed as a spiritual community, bound by belief.

1st c. Roman Empire

For a Roman aristocrat, marriage is one of many options. For imperial civil servants living 100 years later, it is the basis of their livelihood.

100 Roman Empire

In Latin, the word venter means both uterus and woman. Roman women are childbearers, and fertility is the prerequisite for a happy marriage. Infertility is grounds for divorce.

18 Roman Empire

Under Augustus, the Leges Iuliae imposes severer penalties for adultery, sexual offences, and procuring. Marriage is obligatory. Families with many children are privileged, while those with fewer than three children are penalized.

1st c. Roman Empire

Conjugal community of property exists in practice long before it is legally codified. It is certainly in use in the early Empire.

99 Roman Empire

For Lucretius, the nuclear family is a pragmatic unit for the purpose of protection and procreation rather than being beholden to the divine order or to morality. Love between parents, children, and relatives is a natural instinct.

18 Roman Empire

The Lex Iulia de adulteriis, a law passed under Augustus, defines adultery and stipulates death by the sword as the penalty.

0

1st c. Roman Empire

Augustus betroths his two-year-old daughter Julia to the eight-year-old son of his opponent, Mark Antony. In later years, Augustus accuses her before the Senate of adultery and banishes her to the island of Pandateria.

200 – 300 India

The Kamasutra is written as a textbook on the refined pursuit of pleasure for men and women, including prostitutes. In Hinduism, kama (pleasure) ranks among the four goals of life, alongside prosperity, righteousness, and spiritual liberation.

2nd c. Roman Empire

The lawyer Modestinus regards marriage as “the union of a man and a woman, a partnership for life involving divine as well as human law”. Justinian Dig. 23.2.1, Modestinus 1 reg.

2nd–3rd c. Jerusalem / Antioch / Roman Empire

Christian communities begin to interpret the family as a Christian institution, emphasizing monogamous marriage and mutual consent.

266–420 China (Jin Dynasty)

Marriage alliances and a monopoly on education enable noble families to control the state apparatus. The emperor and aristocrats form a symbiotic system. Family networks dominate state politics.

From 2nd– 3rd c. Roman Empire

The many depictions of couples on Gallo-Roman sarchophagi indicate the new importance of marriage as the central axis of life.

2nd c. China (Han Dynasty)

Women from the upper classes are relatively free, as confirmed by divorces and the remarriage of widows. Young women have access to education, as described in Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women (Nüjie). Appreciation of mothers increases.

160

4th c. Byzantine Empire

Justinian I’s Corpus Iuris Civilis governs inheritance laws, property laws, and the legal position of women, while canon law becomes the legal basis for marriage as a sacrament, permitting divorce in exceptional cases, and adjudicating adultery and the distribution of estates.

5th c. Roman Empire

The Roman tradition of adopting an imperial successor and incorporating him into the agnatic line is abandoned in favour of securing power through marriage, as in the Theodosian dynasty.

5th c. Roman Empire

The synods of the Church in the West demand permanent continence for clerics of all degrees of ordination.

347–420 Dalmatia, Syria Palaestina

Jerome is inspired by Plutarch and Seneca to devise the notion of Christian modesty in marriage. The Christian doctrine of marriage is partly articulated in terms of Greco-Roman thought, particularly that propounded by the Stoics.

4th c. Asia Minor (Turkey)

Saint Basil of Caesarea establishes a home for orphans and children in need.

385 Roman Empire

Pope Siricius issues the Western Church’s first regulations on clerical marriage and sexuality. A bishop can marry only once and must marry a virgin. He also has to practise continence before his priestly ordination.

475–76 Visigothic Kingdom

The Codex Euricianus replaces Germanic tribal law. It formalizes marriage and inheritance rights and specifies rules for the transfer of wealth such as the rule of representation, whereby a grandson can assume the son’s right of succession.

200 Germania magna

Among the Germans, a woman convicted of adultery can be put to death. Women taken in adultery have their hair shorn and are led naked through the village.

449 Roman Empire

According to Theodosius’s divorce law, both the wife’s and the husband’s adultery are grounds for divorce.

4th c. India (State of Meghalaya)

Among the Ki Khasi (“those born of women”), the clan mother is the spiritual and earthly leader. She leads, cares for, and arbitrates for the extended family. She transfers these responsibilities to the eldest daughter in matrilineal succession.

330

6th c. Roman Empire

As a large landowner, the Church is dependent on legacies. Prohibitions of marriage, the taboo on concubinage, remarriage, and adoption as well as the mandate of continence prevent property being passed down exclusively within the family.

5th–6th c. India

Primogeniture and the indivisibility of inheritance to the disadvantage of the wife and other children are called into question. The head of the joint family administers its property. The wife can claim maintenance (stridhana).

439–581 China (Northern Dynasties)

Nomad culture influences gender roles during the rule of the Xianbei. Women generally have a say in family affairs and a degree of independent decision-making power, unlike in the Confucian-influenced patriarchy.

507–11 Frankish Kingdom

The Lex Salica defines the cognatic kinship system. All those who sleep under the same roof are family, including dependents. Land “belongs to the men in its entirety, i.e. the brothers”.

6th c. Roman Empire

The Corpus Iuris Civilis, which comes into force under Emperor Justinian I, contains regulations relating to marriage, the family, property, and inheritance. The legal and ethico-cultural echoes of this legislation can still be felt today.

600 Middle East / North Africa

In early Islam, polygyny ensures that widows and children are provided for after wars. It is regarded as a form of social insurance for women, as well as an expression of male responsibility and stability for the family.

590 Roman Empire

Pope Gregory I regards carnal desire within marriage as sinful, holding that it is harmful to spiritual purity and leads to guilt.

6th c. Roman Empire

“Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, a partnership for life involving divine as well as human law.” Justinian Dig. 23.2.1, Modestinus 1 reg.

650 Levant, Mekka, Medina

The rules for zina (adultery) are set out in the Qurʾan: four male witnesses are to produce the evidence. “As for female and male fornicators, give each of them one hundred lashes!” Qur’an 24:2

500

723 Lombard Kingdom

King Liutprand issues a prohibition on incestuous marriages such as between a widower and his sister-in-law. Marriage into a family is equated with blood kinship.

Late 7th c. Visigothic Kingdom

A law guarantees the right of parents to inflict corporal punishment on a child still living in familia.

7th c. Middle East / North Africa

As Islam develops, so too does family law (fiqh). Based on the Qurʾan, the Hadith, the Ijma, and the fatwas of Muslim legal scholars, it sets out the relationships between family members.

681–742 Mesoamerica

In the Mayan Yaxchilan region, the ruler Itzamnaaj B’alam II creates a lasting alliance with a neighbouring Mayan centre of power through marriage.

7th c. Frankish Kingdom

One of the earliest examples of organized child welfare in Europe is the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, a charitable institution that receives the sick as well as orphans and abandoned children.

7th c. Roman Empire

The penalties for adultery in Christendom vary between regions – from the imposition of penance, excommunication, and fines to the death penalty.

7th c. Visigothic Kingdom

Isidore of Seville regards cognati as blood kin. From the fourth century onwards, Romance languages broaden the term to include non-blood relations as well, such as brother- and sister-in-law.

From 7th c. Middle East / North Africa

Relationship by marriage (musāharah) and prohibitions against marriage are clearly defined with respect to the close relatives of a spouse, such as parents-in-law.

7th c. Middle East / North Africa

In Islam, iddah refers to the waiting period before a woman may remarry after divorce or the death of her husband. This practice ensures certainty about parentage and protects the woman’s rights.

From 7th c. Middle East / North Africa

Rules on the descent, inheritance, and rights of blood relatives (nasab) are laid out. A child is regarded as his or her father’s offspring if the marriage is legally valid.

7th c. Middle East / North Africa

Islamic family law emphasizes justice and fairness, particularly when it comes to the treatment of women and children. The concept of mahr, an obligatory dowry, becomes vitally important in marriage contracts.

660

9th c. Sumatra

Women in Minangkabau societies have a strong family role. Land and wealth are passed on matrilineally.

7th–9th c. Japan (Nara and Heian periods)

Household registers document family organization, number of persons, relationship status, age, and clan membership (uji). The head of the household (ko) organizes the cultivation of the rice fields entrusted to it and the payment of levies.

8th c. South Asia

Arab traders, Muslim soldiers, and Sufi missionaries bring Islam to India. Islamic influences shape the multicultural societies and transform family structures.

918 Korea

The Goryeo dynasty continues the equality of the Silla kingdom: women can inherit, administer property, and hold office. The growing influence of Confucianism weakens their position, and patriarchal structures become prevalent.

900–1200 Europe

Blood feud, known as faida or vendetta, reaches its apex. Insults, fraud, and rape are avenged by armed gangs. Starting in 1200, this function was performed by “professional avengers”.

7th–9th c. Japan (Nara and Heian periods)

One household (ko) can include up to 100 people. It represents a cross-generational extended family: parents of the patriarch, collateral relatives, in-laws, servants, and others.

Late 8th c. Franconia

Surviving documents define the familia as the nuclear family of father, mother, and children.

10th c. Franconia / Holy Roman Empire

Henry I of Bavaria’s justification for his rebellion against his brother, Otto the Great, is that while Otto is Henry the Fowler’s primogenitus – Henry’s firstborn son as Duke of Saxony – he himself is the porphyrogenitus (“born to the purple”), i.e. the first to be born after his father’s coronation as king of East Francia.

7th–9th c. Japan (Nara and Heian periods)

Administrative acts are introduced to standardize the household structures of “free subjects’”. The oldest legitimate son (chakushi – main child) is the householder’s successor. His younger siblings are known as shoshi, or common children.

From 7th c. Middle East / North Africa

Ridā‘ (milk kinship): In accordance with the Qurʾan and the Hadith, people who are breastfed by the same woman are regarded as related and are not permitted to marry each other.

8th–13th c. Middle East / North Africa

In the Abbasid era, Islamic legislation on relationships, marriage, and children becomes more systematic. Sunni and Shiite schools devise guidelines on the basis of the Qurʾan and the Hadith, in conjunction with consensus and argumentation.

830

1070 China (Song Dynasty)

Wang Anshi’s reforms establish the Baojia system. Families are integrated into a surveillance network and increasingly come under state control.

10th–12th c. Holy Roman Empire / Papal States / Empire of the Normans

In Amalfi and, later, in Tuscany, the practice of giving firstborn male children the Christian/first name of their grandfathers secures the survival of the clan and is a way of proving male-line descent.

From 1000 Europe

The cemetery by a parish church becomes the most important social and structural frame of reference for the family, which resides close to it. Family tombs reinforce genealogy and identity, becoming a means of collective remembrance.

8th–13th c. Middle East / North Africa

Children are only regarded as legitimate if they are born into a valid marriage; if this is not the case, they have no legal bond to the father.

8th–13th c. Middle East / North Africa

Formal adoption (tabannī) is forbidden, but guardianship (kafāla) is promoted. Sons and daughters receive a set share of inheritance (Qurʾan, 4.11), whereby men usually receive a double share.

10th c. Congo

Families in Congo live in large, patrilineal groups. It is common for several generations to live together and honour their ancestors. They form close social and economic units characterized by shared work and mutual support.

1000

1100 North America

The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) have a matrilineal organizational structure. The wife is the head of the family. The house, land, and harvest are her property. After marriage, the husband moves into her longhouse, and the children are part of her clan.

1100 Levant, Babylon

Despite the ban on polygamy, Jews can be married to two people because bigamy does not contravene Jewish law. Polygyny is widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 10th to 12th centuries.

Latest 11th c. India

The legal commentary Mitāksarā establishes the theory of inheritance by birth. The son has a claim to inheritance and a share of the father’s property (joint family system).

8th–13th c. Middle East / North Africa

Mothers have primary custody (hadānah) of small children but fathers retain the legal guardianship.

From 1100 Holy Roman Empire / West Francia

Once a daughter has married and receives her dowry, she loses her right to inherit a share of her parents’ estate.

c.1100 Tours, Anjou

“I know nothing about my past, because I do not know where my ancestors are buried.” Fulk of Anjou

1085

11th–12th c. India

The Mitāksarā school of law develops a theory of blood relation over seven generations (sapinda) and sets forth a marriage ban extending to eight degrees of kinship.

12th c. Middle East / North Africa

In Islamic and Jewish communities, the paternal kinship group is understood as part of the bayt (father’s house) and is recognizable through the surname, or family name, which is derived from the epithet of an ancestor.

12th c. British Isles

The family clan has almost ceased to exist except in the Celtic countries. Nevertheless, it remains deeply rooted.

1139 Papal States

Celibacy becomes law at the Second Lateran Council. Catholic priests are barred from matrimony and concubinage.

12th c. Sumatra

The patriarchal values of Islamic law stand in opposition to the Minangkabau’s matrilineal traditions. They accept Islam but maintain their matrilineal customs, which leads to a cultural synthesis of both traditions.

c.1198 Papal States

Pope Innocent III is the first to have foundling wheels (known as torno in Italian) installed at the gates of foundling homes to make it possible for babies to be given up anonymously. The first of these is at the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Rome.

12th c. Europe

The family name increasingly comes into use as a surname as a way of unambiguously identifying people, e.g. by profession, origin, or attributes. It is handed down to their progeny.

11th–15th c. Levant

Levirate marriage, when a widow marries the brother of her deceased husband, is customary in Judaism, as is bigamy and marriage between children.

1165

13th c. Holy Roman Empire

In Genoa, the alberghi unite the collateral lines of their families into one albergo with one name and crest, a family council, and an arbiter exercising private jurisdiction. Marrying within one’s own group consolidates political power and provides strategic advantages.

13th c. Kingdom of Sicily

By perpetuating names, clans are able to remain mobile units in the long term. The family trees of the Italian Byzantine nobility in Amalfi, Naples, and Bari attest to names and descendants for 12 generations.

13th c. Holy Roman Empire / West Francia

The cohesion of the noble paraiges in Metz is based on matrilineal descent. Traces of the Germanic tradition of kinship through both parental lines can also be found among the patricians of Strasbourg.

13th c. Republic of Siena

The city is divided into contrade, administrative and social units based on familial networks that bolster the family’s political position and stabilize the social order. These units dominate the conduct and administration of urban life.

1248 Cologne

Albert the Great categorizes sexual intercourse during pregnancy as a venial sin.

12th–13th c. Holy Roman Empire / Papal States

Monasteries and churches establish homes for educating and caring for orphans and abandoned children. Founded in the 12th century, the Santo Spirito in Sassia, the Church of the Holy Spirit in the Saxon District in Rome, accepts orphans and exposed children.

From 13th c. France

The Capetian kings establish the principle of primogeniture, whereby the firstborn is the heir and legal successor. This results in the enlargement of their territories, culminating in the nation state of France, but also causes large family groups to splinter apart.

c.1260 Papal States

Thomas Aquinas recommends “a little contrition” if one experiences excessive pleasure during the sexual act.

1248 Asia Minor, Ephesus

The rules of the monastery founded by Nikephoros Blemmydes state that a child may join (voluntarily) at the age of ten.

1200 North America

An unpredictable climate changes the living conditions and family structures of the Pueblo people. Social conflict becomes more frequent.

1250

14th–20th c. Ottoman Empire

The mother is highly esteemed, as reflected in the saying “Paradise lies under the mother’s feet”. The sultan’s mother has more income than other relatives. The wet nurse is also accorded this status if the mother dies.

From 1320 Japan

With the elimination of the division of succession, fealty becomes more important than descent. Symbolic parent-child relationships ensure ties: superiors are known as yori oya (parent, father, head), while subordinates are called yoriko (independent child).

13th–18th c. Central France

Silent communities (30–40 people) work and live under the same roof, sharing a hearth and cooking utensils. An elected official called the Schulze represents the community externally, while his female counterpart, the Schulzin, is responsible for the household, provisioning, and child-rearing.

1356 Holy Roman Empire

The Golden Bull stipulates that the eldest son is to be the heir in the secular electorates. Other territories, such as Saxony and the Electoral Palatinate, can be divided up among the heirs by the prince-electors.

14th–17th c. China (Ming Dynasty)

An institutionalized culture of chastity offers state awards to widows who do not remarry.

13th–15th c. Northern Europe

The nuclear family becomes established in large parts of Europe, especially in the north-west. However, a wide variety of family types remain in existence, with several different marital communities that exhibit different organizational forms.

14th c. Celtic Ireland

Tolerated by the popes in Avignon, dynasties of priests and bishops flout the rule of celibacy, cohabit with women, and hand down religious offices from father to son.

14th–15th c. Holy Roman Empire / Papal States / Kingdom of Naples

The tradition of blood feud (casato) holds families together. It is strictly organized via the paternal line. In Bologna, the dead man’s bloody shirt is brought to the brother as a sign of his duty and the ignominy suffered by the family.

From 13th c. Malaysia/Indonesia

With the introduction of Islam, families are bound by Islamic laws such as Sharia. These influence marriage and family structures, as well as property and inheritance laws.

13th c. Ottoman Empire

Despite European misconceptions, sexuality is strictly regulated in a harem. It serves as a mechanism for controlling dynastic reproduction. Harem comes from the word hrm, which means forbidden, taboo, and sacred.

14th–18th c. Côte d’Ivoire

Kingdoms such as Baoulé and Kong flourish thanks to trade in gold and ivory. Before the transatlantic slave trade and colonization, life is dominated by strong family structures and social order.

Until 1320 Europe

The Polish aristocracy live according to a clan model that spans the dukedoms. Thirty clans, each with its own war cry, can muster their armed followers in the blink of an eye on the orders of their leader.

1350

15th c. Kingdom of Naples

From before the 11th century until after the Christian reconquest and before its expulsion in 1492, the Jewish community in Sicily permits cousin marriage and marriage to a female maternal cross-cousin (i.e. the daughter of one’s mother’s brother).

15th c. Levant

In Islamic regions, a paternal cousin is the preferred choice of wife. Although this is officially deemed incest in Christian Europe, it is practised nonetheless.

15th c. Europe

Grieving for the dead follows the rhythm of Church feasts and comes under the control of the Church. Married couples become stylized into a unit in a new typology of tombs.

From 1452 Europe

Witch trials are a form of intimidation and a means to secure the power of Church and State. Single women and widows with medical knowledge are especially likely to be persecuted as witches, and 80% of witch trial victims are women.

15th–16th c. North India

Under Islamic influence, the purdah (veil) protects upper-caste women in public more than it does women from lower castes, where small families are the norm and divorce and remarriage are common.

c.1450 North America

An Iroquois husband moves into his wife’s longhouse after marriage and lives there as part of his new family (matrilocality).

15th c. Europe

The clerical requirement of celibacy and the prohibition on marriage intensify the ties between uncles and nephews. A nephew becomes a childless clergyman’s surrogate son. Nepotism is thus key to familial cohesion and the transfer of power. It is the precursor of Church patronage.

15th c. Korea

Ideologues reform the Korean dynasty and introduce neo-Confucianism from China in order to push back liberal Goryeo policies.

15th c. Ottoman Empire

Ottoman imperialism leads to a change in the dominant harem system, with women gaining political power. This era, which extends into the 17th century, is known as the Sultanate of Women.

1420

16th c. Holy Roman Empire, Upper Saxon Circle

For Martin Luther, marriage is ordained by God as the basic unit of society and a locus of love, child-rearing, and mutual assistance.

1522 Holy Roman Empire

In Martin Luther’s writings on marriage, the contractus mixtus assigns to the state the regulation of matrimonial and family issues, since they have both a divine and a social dimension.

1523 Mexico

A European delegation of 12 Franciscan monks reaches Mexico with the aim of pursuing Christian missionary work among the Indigenous population. Their number stands for the 12 Apostles of Jesus.

Early 16th c. France

With the abolition of the old rules of inheritance, new ways of dividing the estate arise. Usage rights to common land and permission to marry within one’s own group lead to the division of land ownership. At the same time, the nuclear family becomes stronger.

From 16th c. Northwest Europe

The established model of the nuclear family accelerates the development of nascent early capitalist structures, and vice versa.

15th–16th c. England

To keep landholdings intact, it becomes customary for a single child, usually the firstborn son, to inherit the farm.

1510 India

Alfonso de Albuquerque, governor of Portuguese India, prohibits the ritual of widow burning (sati) in Goa. Some years later the Sikh leader Guru Amar Das does the same in Punjab. Both meet with little success.

16th c. Europe

Until the end of the century, one child in four dies before reaching its first birthday and another quarter do not live to the age of 20. Of every five children, three survive their parents.

16th c. Mexico

Missionaries expel the illegitimate children of polygamous marriages and “incestuous” partnerships from the family home. These are the first “abandoned children”, who are regarded as a “plague” on colonial society but serve as cheap labour for the Spaniards.

1511–50 Mexico

During the Spanish conquest, between 50% and 90% (depending on the individual region) of the Indigenous population dies in devastating epidemics caused by imported pathogens.

1552 Maya Region

The Indigenous population is forced to resettle en masse to facilitate missionary work and closer supervision. This leads to economic crises that threaten their very existence, as well as the dissolution of kinship alliances.

16th c. Holy Roman Empire, Upper Saxon Circle

“A man without a woman is like a hearth without a fire.”
Martin Luther

1500

1552–53 Maya Region

“And I also decree that the man or woman who is convicted of adultery…be punished with one hundred lashes and grievously maltreated.”
Ordenanzas for Yucatán
by the Franciscan Tómas López Medel

From 1540 Peru / Mexico

Christian marriage is a reality: according to the Franciscan friar Motolinía, Mexican’s Indigenous communities live “almost exclusively within the bounds of legal marriage”. Polygamous structures are often dissolved in favour of a system of concubinage.

1552–53 Maya Region

“That every Indio who has several wives should present them to the bishop or a cleric, who can examine which one is legal and give him this one, and the others should leave him.”
Ordenanzas for Yucatán
by the Franciscan Tómas López Medel

1536 Central Mexico region

The Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco is opened. It teaches sons of the Indigenous elite about their colonial masters’ society and social norms.

1563 Holy Roman Empire

The Council of Trent defines the seven sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Last Rites, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. Baptism frees the descendants of Adam from the guilt of Original Sin.

1552 Maya Region

Spanish orders of monks zealously undertake missionary work to oppose Indigenous practices of child-rearing and marriage. Polygamy is prohibited. Children receive a rigorously Christian education in missionary schools.

1565–1898 Philippines

Indigenous family structures come under pressure with Spanish colonialism. Christian values and baptism are introduced. The Catholic Church demands monogamous marriage.

15th–16th c. India

The flexible family organization of the Kaikollar weaver caste in Tamil regions ensures social mobility. The Sindh weaver castes in Northwest India influence the extended family with a variable division of labour.

16th c. South Asia

Sharia-based family law is introduced by the Mughals. Muslim families are organized in accordance with Islamic law. This strengthens the position of women in matters of inheritance as well as in marriage.

1537

From 15th c. Japan (Muromachi period)

Adoption is important for the family organization of all social classes, as it ensures the continuation of the family. The adopted individual (yohshi / yoyo) is often an adolescent or adult who must identify with his or her adoptive family.

From 1596 Sumatra

During the colonial era, colonial powers such as the Dutch and, later, the British use their administrative systems to promote patriarchal structures that favour men in positions of power.

1583 North America

English settlers establish the first colony in Virginia, which has profound consequences for Indigenous cultures, such as the introduction of diseases as well as the “Columbian Exchange”, the transfer of plants and animals from east to west.

1500–1900 Ottoman Empire

The religiously defined millet system, which is still influential today, includes Christians and Jews. They are granted protection and autonomy with respect to family law, regulated by their own religious authorities.

15th–17th c. France / Habsburg / Papal States

Communal orphanages open in Venice, Florence, and Paris. The Florentine Ospedale degli Innocenti opens in 1445, funded by the Guild of Silk Weavers and Goldsmiths. Until 1875, newborns are surrendered anonymously.

Late 15th c. North America

In many North American cultures, marriage is prohibited within a person’s own clan (endogamy). Men and women marry instead into a different clan (exogamy), which also strengthens the bond between clans.

1575

17th c. Holy Roman Empire / France / Great Britain

Witch burnings reach their peak. They destroy the fabric of communities and families.

17th c. Argentinia / Bolivia / Paraguay

Spanish Christian missionaries forbid married couples from separating and divorcing, and ban polygamous marriage or relationships. Fami­ly structures are changed, moralized about, or outlawed.

Latest 16th c. Europe

The demographic system is shaped by the high age at marriage of young women. Shortening the period of fertility by ten years is the main strategy of contraception. On average, every marriage brings forth seven children.

1619 North America

A Dutch ship brings the first enslaved Africans to Jamestown, Virginia. This marks the start of the transatlantic slave trade to the British colonies.

17th c. Europe

Before the advent of industrialization, agriculture and cottage industries are dominant. Family models differ between the rural population, the nobility, and burghers. The family is a unit of production. A single household can integrate several related couples.

Latest 16th c. Europe

The average age at marriage rises to 29–30 for young men and 23–26 for women. Every fourth marriage is a second marriage. The autonomy of married couples is strengthened and becomes the centre of family relationships.

c.1638 France

The future Sun King, Louis XIV, as an infant with his first wet nurse, Dame Longuet de La Giraudière. She is a member of the royal household. Her biography is not fully documented.

1612

1650 North America

The Beaver Wars lead to changes in Iroquois society such as the adoption of captured enemies in order to compensate for population losses.

16th –19th c. Africa

During the Middle Passage, 12.8 million Africans are forcibly transported across the Atlantic. Families are brutally torn apart, and men, women, and children are separated. The inhumane conditions on board cause terrible suffering.

1665 North America

Maryland passes the first British colonial law stipulating the enslavement of “white” women who have married “Black” men.

From 1600 Japan (Edo period)

The ie (house/hearth) is the nucleus of Japanese society – residence, assets, and social group all under one roof and with patriarchal filiation. Neighbourly relations are hardly distinguishable from blood ties.

From 1660 North America

Enslaved mothers play a central role in raising children and ensuring their emotional stability under the most difficult of conditions. The bond between mothers and children is of primary importance because fathers are often separated from them or sold on.

1649 France

Contraception is rare in the 17th century. Having many children is the privilege of the wealthy strata of society, where intervals between births are especially short thanks to the practice of wet-nursing.

1660 North America

Marriages between enslaved people are not legally recognized. Many marry symbolically and establish families within the community. These families are often torn apart when its members are sold on or through acts of violence.

1662 North America

A law in Virginia makes enslavement inheritable: the children of enslaved women are themselves enslaved from birth (partus sequitur ventrem), regardless of the status of their father.

1661 North America

Virginia passes the first law permitting lifelong enslavement. People whose work is not based on a contractual agreement can be enslaved for their entire lives.

1650

1691 North America

The Commonwealth of Virginia prohibits all marriages between people of different “race” and threatens White men and women who violate this law with exile, which in most cases equates to a death sentence.

1689 England

John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government champions individual rights, education, and non-interference of the state in family matters. The work influences modern views on the family in Europe.

1717 Prussia

In Prussia, general compulsory schooling is introduced under Frederick William I.

Late 17th c. North America

European settlers introduce patriarchal family structures into Indigenous communities, with men in charge and women running the household.

1706–12 Prussia

In the early 18th century, the fate of Prussia’s monarchy hangs in the balance because several of the royal couple’s children die in infancy and there is no male heir in sight.

1698 Holy Roman Empire, Lower Saxon Circle

The orphanage known as Franckesche Waisenhaus is established in Halle as one of the major facilities for orphans and children in need.

1666 Congo

The Battle of Mbwila destroys the Kingdom of Congo. Portuguese troops kill the king, and people are abducted in their thousands. Families are brutally torn apart, with children, women, and men enslaved. Social order and family structures collapse.

1687

18th c. Europe

During the Enlightenment, Sinti and Roma are to be “formed” into bourgeois citizens. The education programme bans their language and forcibly removes children from Roma families in order to raise them as Christians.

18th c. North America

Enslaved women are forced to breastfeed the babies of their enslavers, which often leaves them with no milk for their own children, who go hungry and in some cases even die as a consequence.

18th c. Holy Roman Empire

The evil stepmother is a stock character in folk tales, novels, and bourgeois dramas. Almost a quarter of all marriages are second marriages, and one child in two comes under the care of a stepmother or stepfather.

From 18th c. Europe

New branches of industry (e.g. textile production in England) give rise to new family relationships and structures. Special female skills vanish, and social classes come into being with their own, often antagonistic, family models.

18th c. Central Europe

The social pressures that come with industrialization are cushioned by the extended family, which is the cornerstone of the system at a time when there is no collective or even state infrastructure for social welfare.

18th c. Holy Roman Empire

Natural philosophy and the Enlightenment shapes views about the meaning and purpose of marriage and family. Joachim Heinrich Campe, the father of child psychology, questions social roles on a basis other than religious-moral valuation.

18th–19th c. Europe

With the advance of industrialization and urbanization, the number of orphans and neglected children increases. Public children’s homes are established, such as the Foundling Hospital in London (1741) and orphanages run by social reform movements in Germany.

18th–19th c. England

Because divorce is expensive and impossible for women, husbands can sell their wives at the market. The wife sale is an informal practice rooted in the lack of legal protections for women. It becomes rare after the reform of divorce law.

1725

1794 Prussia

The General Law Code for the Prussian States defines the family as the core unit of society. The minimum age for marriage is stipulated at 18 (men) and 14 (women), as are paternal authority and conjugal duties.

1789–99 France

Reforms of family policy are aimed at secularizing marriage, introducing the right to divorce and giving children equal status before the law. However, many of these achievements are reversed under Napoleon.

1762 France

In Émile, or Treatise on Education, Jean-Jacques Rousseau praises the family for its educational function, its fostering of emotional ties, its “natural” ways of life, and its granting of individual freedoms.

Pre-1780 Greenland

In traditional Inuit societies, the family and community are responsible for raising children. Marriage and partnerships are flexible and easily dissolved, as long as the children’s welfare is ensured.

1791 France

In the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, Olympe de Gouges calls for equal rights in marriage, partnership within the family, property rights, and the political sphere. Her demands are rejected. She is executed in 1793 as an “unnatural woman”.

1794 Prussia

The General Law Code for the Prussian States defines the family as the core unit of society. The minimum age for marriage is stipulated at 18 (men) and 14 (women), as are paternal authority and conjugal duties.

1789–99 France

Reforms of family policy are aimed at secularizing marriage, introducing the right to divorce and giving children equal status before the law. However, many of these achievements are reversed under Napoleon.

1762 France

In Émile, or Treatise on Education, Jean-Jacques Rousseau praises the family for its educational function, its fostering of emotional ties, its “natural” ways of life, and its granting of individual freedoms.

Pre-1780 Greenland

In traditional Inuit societies, the family and community are responsible for raising children. Marriage and partnerships are flexible and easily dissolved, as long as the children’s welfare is ensured.

1791 France

In the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, Olympe de Gouges calls for equal rights in marriage, partnership within the family, property rights, and the political sphere. Her demands are rejected. She is executed in 1793 as an “unnatural woman”.

1762

19th c. Egypt

The Nahda is an Arab reform movement. Legal expert Qasim Amin advocates for women’s education and rights, leading to reforms and later inspiring women’s movements in several countries.

19th c. Ghana/Togo/Cameroon/Gabon

Lineage structures within kinship systems adapt to economic conditions and contribute to the efficiency of the colonial economy. The coffee and cocoa plantations are managed by extended family communities.

19th c. Ottoman Empire

The nuclear family is dominant in cities such as Istanbul. The local neighbourhood plays a key role, linking poor and rich people through religion. Neighbours in the community are also regarded as family and provide mutual support.

19th c. Central Europe

The differentiation of labour hierarchies and social groups, production demands, and increasing social mobility give rise to new family types. Ultimately, a uniform model of the family prevails.

19th c. India/Bangladesh

Child mortality is high among unpropertied lower caste families. A woman must bear an average of seven children to ensure two male offspring. These children often have to take on the role of the head of the household.

c.1800 India

“One of the principal precepts taught in Hindu books, and one that is everywhere recognized as true, is that women should be kept in a state of subjugation and dependence all their lives.”
Abbé Dubois, 1825

19th c. Central Europe

Wage levels and qualifications influence models and structures of the family. The traditional roles of men and women are challenged, hierarchies between the young and the old are dissolved, and knowledge transfer is lost.

19th c. Ivory Coast / Cameroon

The lineage organization of the extended family changes profoundly. Matrilineages and patrilineages dissolve. Nuclear families cultivate plots of land as private property, while the land is communally owned under the old land tenure system.

1804 French Empire

The Napoleonic Code strengthens the family as the core unit of society. The birth rate drops after the revolution. Family funds are established to encourage population growth.

19th c. Central Europe

The development of industrial production brings with it new social and economic conditions that increasingly cause the working class to seek out methods of contraception.

1800

1810 French Empire

According to the French criminal code, Code pénal, adultery on the part of the wife is always grounds for divorce; in the case of the husband, this only applies if he consorts with his mistress in the marital home. The husband incurs no penalty if he kills his wife or her lover after catching them in adultery.

1816–49 Prussia

Poverty and famine force people to move to the city. The population of Berlin grows from 200,000 (1816) to 450,000 (1849). Cramped, dark, insanitary living conditions are widespread, especially in poor neighbourhoods.

1821 German Confederation

In Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right, the bourgeois family is an intermediary between the individual and society. It fosters the development of values, standards, and civic engagement.

1800–1850 Europe

Child labour in textile factories and coal mines reaches its peak. Early child protection laws are passed such as the Factory Act (1833), which limits working hours and stipulates a minimum age.

19th–20th c. Ecuador

In the Amazon region, Christian orders forcibly separate children from their parents and send them to church-run boarding schools. The aim is to convert them to Christianity, culturally uproot them, and integrate them into colonial structures.

1810 French Empire

According to the French criminal code, Code pénal, adultery on the part of the wife is always grounds for divorce; in the case of the husband, this only applies if he consorts with his mistress in the marital home. The husband incurs no penalty if he kills his wife or her lover after catching them in adultery.

1816–49 Prussia

Poverty and famine force people to move to the city. The population of Berlin grows from 200,000 (1816) to 450,000 (1849). Cramped, dark, insanitary living conditions are widespread, especially in poor neighbourhoods.

1821 German Confederation

In Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right, the bourgeois family is an intermediary between the individual and society. It fosters the development of values, standards, and civic engagement.

1800–1850 Europe

Child labour in textile factories and coal mines reaches its peak. Early child protection laws are passed such as the Factory Act (1833), which limits working hours and stipulates a minimum age.

19th–20th c. Ecuador

In the Amazon region, Christian orders forcibly separate children from their parents and send them to church-run boarding schools. The aim is to convert them to Christianity, culturally uproot them, and integrate them into colonial structures.

1815

1839–76 Ottoman Empire

The Tanzimat period is accompanied by fundamental reforms: modern civil law, centralized administration, and changes to the educational and legal systems.

1841–47 North America

Movements seeking social utopia establish the first communes, such as Brook Farm (Massachusetts), which is established according to Transcendentalist principles of equality.

1848–80 North America

The Oneida Community is established as a commune in New York State that holds property collectively and practices polyamorous relationships.

1842 Prussia

The law on the acquisition and loss of the status of a Prussian subject defines citizenship not by birth within state territory but by descent (ius soli – ius sanguinis).

1841 Kingdom of France

A law regulating child labour stipulates a minimum age of 8. Children aged 8–12 are not allowed to work in factories for more than 8 hours; for children aged 12–16, the limit is 12 hours. Violations are frequent.

1840 German Confederation

German states respond to poverty and population growth with beggar ordinances and restrictions on marriage. Emigration is promoted, and 80,000 emigrants are counted in 1847.

1829 India

William Bentinck, Governor-General of India, introduces a law banning the sati ritual, whereby widows are burned to death in public. The prohibition only gradually takes effect.

1830

From 1868 Japan (Meiji period)

The traditional and functional structure of the ie (house), local family solidarity, and the diversity of traditional family structures dwindle in the face of rapid demographic growth and urban migration.

Mid-18th c. France

Literature on child-rearing challenges educational customs, focusing on foundling homes (where the mortality rate is alarmingly high) and child-rearing by nannies.

1857 French Empire

Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners is banned by the board of censors for “glorifying adultery”. The protagonist, Emma Bovary, is a star witness against bourgeois marriage.

1860 India

The Indian Penal Code outlaws polygamy.

1856 India

The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act grants widows the right to remarry.

1850s Great Britain

The first rubber condoms produced by the London Rubber Company become popular in other countries as well, such as the USA. They revolutionize sex and contraception and help to combat sexually transmitted diseases.

Pre-1900 New Zealand

Māori marriages often reinforce political or economic alliances. Polygamy is commonplace. Children grow up in extended families. Rites of passage regulate rights and obligations.

1858–1947 India

British colonial rule reinforces the caste system. Forced labour tears families apart, and land taxes weaken family structures and impoverish peasant farmers.

1858–1947 India

The British colonial administration’s collaboration with male elites reinforces the patriarchal structures in Indian society and cements the dominant position of men.

1858 Ottoman Empire

Women are granted more matrimonial rights, and girls’ schools are set up from 1858 onwards. Newspapers (such as Demet) call for equality of the sexes. Women’s rights continue to improve until 1923. (Universal) suffrage is introduced in 1930/34, allowing women to vote.

1850

1871 German Empire

“Adultery, if it is the grounds for divorce, is punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment for the guilty spouse as well as their accomplice.”
§ 172, RStGB, This paragraph was applicable law in West Germany until 1969.

Pre-1868 Ethiopia

The child’s first name is supplemented by the father’s first name, and sometimes the grandfather’s too. The name Haile Gebrselassie means “Haile, son of Gebrselassie”. The father’s name is used for the surname.

1872 India

The Special Marriage Act is passed. Marriages between members of different castes are legalized.

Until 1880 Prussia

Wet nurses from Lower Lusatia, wearing Sorbian dress, were a familiar sight on the streets of Berlin. “If you have a wet nurse from the Spreewald who nourished you as a child, you can’t demand that from her when you’re 20.”

India

Famine in South India has no influence on marriages and women marrying at a young age. The extended family develops adaptive strategies aimed at survival during crises.

18 December 1865 North America

After the abolition of slavery, institutional, cultural, and economic inequalities persist. At the same time, privileged White people are unsettled by this metamorphosis, which leads to changes in social control, gender roles, and family structures.

1873 Russian Empire

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo Tolstoy

1879 Denmark

“I must make up my mind which is right – society or I.”
Nora, in Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, 1879

1858–1945 Vietnam

Taxes, forced labour, and economic exploitation put strain on families and lead to rural flight and migration.

1872 India

The Special Marriage Act introduces civil marriage and monogamy, but only for Hindus. The minimum marriage age for girls is 14.

1874 Japan

Family names are made obligatory.

1870s Europe

The bourgeois or noble woman trapped by family obligations and society’s ideas of morality becomes a leading motif of literary works such as Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

1870 India

The killing of newborn girls is common. The Infanticide Act is unable to put a complete stop to the practice, as it is part of the private sphere shaped by the purdah system.

1871 German Empire

The ban on abortion is incorporated into Germany’s first Penal Code.

1865

1883 German Empire

Bismarck’s social laws influence family structures: social and medical insurance as well as old-age pensions are introduced, the financial burden on families is eased, women gain access to the job market, and the state is established as a social authority.

Pre-1884 Nigeria

The naming system of the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo has religious, cultural, and family connotations. First names and family names evoke virtues, events, or wishes for the name bearer.

1883 Vietnam

The French colonial administration introduces the Code Civil, which impacts inheritance and family law. The family remains the vehicle of national identity in resistance, as it preserves cultural traditions.

Pre-1900 New Zealand

The Māori are organized along the lines of family groups (whānau), subgroups (hapū), and tribes (iwi). Family law is transmitted orally and is closely interwoven with spiritual and cultural practices.

1895 Central Asia

Great Britain and Russia designate the Panj and Amu Darya as border rivers. To this day these rivers divide societies with shared cultures, language, religion, villages, and families.

Post-1884 Nigeria / South Africa

With colonization and eventually independence, legal requirements for family names are introduced in some countries. Bureaucratization means that family names often become a necessity.

1898 Japan

The Meiji period code of law roots identity in household membership and entry in the household registry (koseki). The householder administers the wife’s property, and the eldest son inherits.

1891 India

The Age of Consent Act is seen as an invention by the state and the English middle class in Hindu religious customs and provokes resistance. A minimum marriage age is introduced.

1889 Philippines

The introduction of the Código Civil codifies marriage and family law on the basis of the Spanish legal system.

Pre-1900 Australia

The Aboriginal peoples are organized along matrilineal or patrilineal – and sometimes polygamous – lines. Arranged marriages reinforce alliances between clans or tribes. Children are reared by the community. Rites of passage regulate rights and obligations.

1896 German Empire

“The wife shares the husband’s domicile. She does not share his domicile if the husband sets up his domicile abroad in a place where the woman does not follow him and is not obliged to do so.”
§ 10 BGB, Reichsgesetzblatt, p. 195, no. 21

Pre-1900 Australia

The complex kinship systems of the Aboriginal peoples regulate social life, marriage, and inheritance. Family law is transmitted orally and is closely interwoven with spiritual and cultural practices.

Pre-1884 Namibia

Among the Herero, Ovambo, and Nama, family law is rooted in tradition. Descent and inheritance rights are determined patrilineally through the male line. Polygamy and the bride price are common practice. Family disputes are mediated by the elders.

1896 German Empire

“The husband has the right to decide on all matters concerning the common married life; in particular, he determines the place and type of residence.”
§ 1354, BGB, 1896

Pre-1884 Cameroon

The Bamileke, Fulbe, and Beti have their own system of family rights. Patrilineal structures and bride prices are widespread. Other tribes like the Kom are organized along matrilineal lines. Family conflicts are settled by councils of elders.

1884 German Empire

In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Friedrich Engels examines the historical development of these concepts. In its economic function, the family changes its structure in response to social conditions.

1880

1900 Nigeria

With colonization, British laws are introduced to determine family law, particularly in matters of marriage and divorce.

1900 German Empire

Orphans can be taken in by families, but adoptive children do not have the status of kin by law and cannot inherit. Adoptive parents must be childless and over 50 years old.

1900 German Empire

The Civil Code introduces the concept of the surname. This becomes obligatory for all, especially in official documents like birth certificates, passports, and identity documents.

1900 Cameroon

During the German colonial period, family laws are introduced that are heavily influenced by European norms and largely ignore traditional practices.

1900 Detroit, North America

17% of African-American families live in extended households and multi-family households as a familial strategy to compensate for the absence of social welfare.

1900 Tanzania

With the introduction of British colonial rule, family laws are enacted that include provisions governing marriage and divorce. These laws are heavily influenced by British law.

1901 Australia

The establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia results in family law being negotiated between the federal states and the Commonwealth. The focus is on questions of marriage and divorce.

Pre-1900 Angola

Among the Ovimbundu, Mbundu, and Bakongo, family law is rooted in tradition and dominated by patrilineal, polygamous structures. Before marriage, families negotiate and exchange goods. The family forms the heart of social and economic life.

1900 German Empire

The German Civil Code (BGB) regulates marriage, family, child welfare, adoption, and inheritance law. Husbands have guardianship and control over property, while wives have very few rights and may not work without their husbands’ consent. This law remains in force in West Germany until the 1970s.

1900

1916 Cameroon

Divided in two under the British and French mandates, family law is shaped by twin legal systems: English common law and French civil law.

Post-1900 Greenland

Legislation passed by Denmark in its capacity as a colonial power bypasses Inuit laws: marriage and divorce are formalized and legally binding, and monogamy is enforced. Child benefit, maintenance payments, and protective measures are regulated by the state.

1912 China

The notion of marriage and relationship is modernized with the founding of the republic. Free love and equality for men and women is promoted.

1916 Middle East

Great Britain and France partition the Ottoman Empire – without any consideration of the ethnic, religious, and cultural situation. The boundaries they draw destroy family structures and homelands, creating conflicts that endure through to the present day.

1912–26 Japan

Family business administration is introduced in leading firms towards the end of the Taisho period with the aim of limiting the influence of Marxist-oriented trade unions on workers.

1914 Japan

Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro is published. “Love is a crime!” the main hero proclaims when confronted with founding a family, friendship, responsibility, and guilt.

1913 German Empire

Citizenship is based on the principle of ius sanguinis (right of blood) and is acquired by descent. This law becomes established with the rise of the ethnic concept of the nation in the 19th century and remains in force to this day.

1917 Turkey

Marriage, divorce, child guardianship, and inheritance are regulated by the state for the first time in the Ottoman Decree on Family Rights. It stipulates that marriages have to be registered and strengthens some aspects of women’s rights.

1908

1919 German Reich

In the Weimar Republic, family life is regulated by constitutional law for the first time. Marriage is regarded as the cornerstone of the nation. The state supports large families, protects mothers, and gives illegitimate children equal legal status.

1920 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Educational theorist Anton Makarenko stresses the importance of the collective in children’s personality development. He runs a children’s home in which the children have a say in decision-making processes.

1922 Soviet Union

The Pioneer Movement is founded. It takes on a central role in the collective education of children and adolescents outside the family.

1922 North America

The Cable Act prohibits “mixed marriages” between white, Black, Native American, and Asian Americans. US citizens lose their citizenship upon marrying an Asian person. Parts of this policy are retained until 1964.

1920s Western Europe

Breastfeeding by paid wet nurses increasingly becomes obsolete with the availability of viable milk replacer.

Post-1918 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Family structures in Central Asia are reformed and surnames become obligatory. Collectivization and settlement policies compel nomadic people such as the Kyrgyz, Kazakh, and Tuvans to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.

1920 North America

Voting rights for women are enshrined in the United States constitution through the 19th Amendment.

1918 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Family law stipulates the freedom of marriage (Ehefreiheit), simplifies divorce law, and provides for equality of the sexes. Women are granted the right of custody and the right to economic independence.

1922 Korea

Introduction and formalization of the hoju system (patrilineal family register) during the Japanese occupation.

1916

1918–31 German Reich

An extra-parliamentary movement is formed to oppose § 218 of the Imperial German Penal Code. It establishes counselling centres to give advice about contraception and the abortion law and provides information about doctors willing to help.

1928 North America

Coleman Blease, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, fails in his final attempt to revise the US constitution with a measure to ban marriage between different “races” in all US states.

1925 India

Sarojini Naidu, poet, politician, and close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, contributes to the independence and women’s movements. She is elected president of the Indian National Congress.

1930 China

The first civil legal code promotes marriage equality. Communist ideas criticize traditional family structures and lead to the transition from extended to nuclear families.

1927 India

The All-India Women’s Conference is founded. It promotes social equality for women and revision of the legal framework on which the Hindu family is based.

1926 Republic of Turkey

The Turkish civil code stipulates that a woman must wait 300 days after divorce before remarrying. To avoid this waiting period, she must appeal and submit proof that she is not pregnant in order to ensure legal clarity about the paternity of any children born after her remarriage.

1926 Soviet Union

As the divorce rate rises, family law introduces stricter divorce regulations, stressing the importance of marriage and promoting the stability of the family.

1929 India

The Child Marriage Restraint Act is passed despite intense resistance from orthodox Hindus. The law sets the minimum age for marriage at 14 for girls and 18 for boys.

1938 German Reich

The Cross of Honour of the German Mother is introduced by the Nazi government for “Aryan” mothers with many children. The woman’s role as mother and housewife is glorified.

1929 North America

As a consequence of the Great Depression the birth rate in North America swiftly plummets to 2.1 children per woman.

1926 Republic of Turkey

Religious family law is abolished and replaced by a modern secular family law.

1928 Indonesia

The first national women’s congress takes place in Yogyakarta (Java) during the colonial era. It focuses on abolishing polygamy, the trafficking of women and children, and promoting educational programmes for women.

1922 German Reich

In Economy and Society, Max Weber analyses family structures in terms of their societal and economic dependence. Family networks are crucial for access to resources and positions.

1925

1937 India

The Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act reforms inheritance laws by allowing Hindu widows to claim a limited share of family property. The Hindu Nibandha Baroda Act legalizes divorce.

1936 German Reich

During the Nazi period, Sinti and Roma lose their citizenship. Marriages are forbidden and forced sterilizations are performed. They are prohibited from practising their trades.

1938 German Reich

The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls, as the main Nazi youth organizations, take on educational functions alongside the family.

1938 German Reich

The marriage law includes a prohibition on marriage for people with certain hereditary diseases as well as “race defilers”. Marriages between Jews and “Aryans” are banned. This causes the break-up of families.

1930s Soviet Union

Programmes to increase the birth rate aim at supporting motherhood and families. Mothers receive financial and social benefits and can become a mother-heroine.

1936 Soviet Union

Abortion is largely forbidden in order to increase the birth rate – a notable step backwards compared to the liberal rules of the early 1920s.

1935 German Reich

The Nazis’ Nuremberg Laws (“racial laws”) lead to the exclusion of “non-Aryan” families, especially those of Jews, Sinti, and Roma, who are subjected to an extremely brutal system of discrimination.

1941–45 German Reich

The consequences of the Shoah are existential. Jewish families are broken apart or extinguished and whole generations are lost. The severe trauma has left its mark on community and family life to this day. Families have to re-establish themselves after flight and emigration.

1920–46 Syria

French colonial rule reinforces religious and ethnic differences. It fragments society by imposing different legal systems for different religious groups, which has an impact on family structures and ways of life.

1933 German Reich

The blood doctrine becomes central to the fascist ideology of the genetically inherited “Aryan race” and the “Aryan-German” family. Discriminatory racist and anti-Semitic laws follow in its wake.

1936 German Reich

An expert opinion by the “Racial Hygiene Research Unit” seeks to define the “anti-socialism” of “gypsies” as a “congenital disease”. This is intended to justify the deportation of Sinti and Roma, which began in 1940 “as a means to combat the gypsy plague”.

1938 German Reich

Under the Nazis, an abortion ban is enforced for “Aryan” women, while abortion is often permitted for “non-Aryan” women.

1933

1945 North America

The New York Times debates the issue of housewife versus career woman. Edith Efron makes the case for equality with respect to the workplace, the household, and childcare. Ann Maulsby writes in favour of the home as the setting for female happiness.

1943–44 India

In order to maintain lines of descent, men receive protection and care during the Bengal famine while women are left to fend for themselves. In worst-case scenarios, children are abandoned or sold.

1947 India/Pakistan

The division of India and Pakistan leads to mass forced migration and the destruction of traditional family structures in the border regions.

1945 Vietnam

Socialist family structures promote equality in the wake of independence. The Viet Minh’s land redistributions strengthen poor farming families and support collective community structures.

1949–today Israel

Civil marriage is not possible; only religious marriages are permitted in accordance with the rules of a particular faith community. “Mixed marriages” and same-sex marriages are still forbidden today.

1949 Syria

Although there is religious autonomy, the state increases its control over family law by means of a standardized civil code, which regulates inheritance, divorce, and property and protects the rights of women and children.

1949 India

The Hindu Married Women’s Right to Separate Residence and Maintenance Act ensures women the right to their own place of residence.

1949 France

In The Elementary Structures of Kinship, the social anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss analyses kinship systems using alliance theory.

1946 Indonesia

After independence KOWANI is founded, a federation of women’s organizations promoting equality, marriage law reform, and education for women. It is brutally dismantled under the Suharto regime beginning in 1965.

1949 China

Having children is encouraged after the founding of the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong. Population growth is seen as a means to ensure economic and military strength.

1940s North America

During the Second World War, women are involved in the war effort, female employment rises, and women gain access to university education, generating fierce debate about the role of women and mothers.

1949 China

Limits on land ownership under Mao Zedong result in the collapse of traditional family structures. The authority of the family head is weakened, as extended families no longer own shared property.

1948 Japan

The civil legal code promises each child equal inheritance rights. Widows receive a third of the legacy. A married couple may choose to adopt either the husband’s or the wife’s family name.

1942

1950s North America

The baby boom is far more marked than in European countries. At its highest point, the birth rate reaches 3.7 children per woman.

1950 East Germany

“Birth out of wedlock is not a fault. The mother of a child born out of wedlock is entitled to full parental rights, which may not be abridged by appointing a guardian for the child.”
§ 17(1), Mother and Child Protection Act

1953 West Germany

“Millions of inwardly healthy families with righteously raised children are at least as important as any military safeguards against the prolific peoples of the East.”
Franz-Josef Wuermeling, first Minister for Family Affairs in West Germany

1953 Afghanistan

Mohammed Daoud Khan becomes prime minister and introduces reforms which allow women to enter public life.

1950 East Germany

The Mother and Child Protection Act safeguards a woman’s equality before the law. Mothers are supported by crèches, nursery schools, and “weekday hostels” (Wochenheime) providing care for children.

1950 India

The reform movement addresses the social ostracism of widows.

1954–56 India

Reformed Hindu law raises girls’ minimum age for marriage to 15, allows divorce, forbids polygamy, and grants women equal inheritance rights.

1954 Korea

South Korea accepts the establishment of several Christian humanitarian organizations funded from abroad. These groups help facilitate international adoptions.

1951 China

The state pension system is introduced. State pension policy transfers responsibility for care of the elderly from the family to the community and the state.

1958 East Germany

The Ten Commandments of Socialist Morality also addresses the family: “Thou shalt raise thy children in the spirit of peace and socialism.” And: “Thou shalt live cleanly and decently and respect thy family.”

1950 Middle East / North Africa

Six children are born on average to each marriage, which is the highest figure globally.

1950s Switzerland

The last professional wet nurses in Bern are pensioned off.

1955 Soviet Union

Soviet family law contains comprehensive regulations on maternity protection, the simplification of marriage and divorce, child maintenance, support for large families, and gender equality.

1955 East Germany

Divorce law is regulated without the assignment of fault; adultery is no longer either a crime or grounds for divorce. Until 1969, it still carries a penalty of up to six months’ imprisonment in West Germany according to the Imperial German Penal Code (RStGB § 172).

1950s West Germany

The baby boom peaks after the end of the Second World War. The family gains significance as a core community.

1955 West Germany

“A mother at home frequently replaces cars, music systems, and trips abroad, which are often paid for with time stolen from her children.”
Franz-Josef Wuermeling, first Minister for Family Affairs in West Germany

1950

1964 Ivory Coast

With independence, a new family law comes into force. The bride price and polygyny are outlawed. The nuclear family is seen as integral to the nation-building process.

From 1960 Western Europe

Child welfare services prefer to place children in foster families rather than children’s homes. Psychological findings point to the importance of family bonds and individual care.

1961 West Germany

The contraceptive pill is introduced – only for married women initially, and in some cases only for “menstrual problems”.

1958–61 Egypt and Syria

The political union between Egypt and Syria as part of the pan-Arab socialist movement leads to land reform and new rights for workers, introducing insurance schemes to cover pensions, burials, disability, and accidents.

1961 Tanzania

With independence from Great Britain, the legal system is reformed to take local traditions and regulations into account. The rights of women and children are strengthened.

Late 1950s Japan

The denka bumu (boom in household devices) shapes consumer society. Corporate strategies focus on family happiness and home comfort, as reflected in the Matsushita company’s advertising slogan mai homu shugi (my home-ism).

1958 Nigeria

The Matrimonial Causes Act regulates divorce and all associated matters. It ensures that marriages are contracted and dissolved according to constitutional law.

1964 Egypt / Tunisia

The birth control programme achieves a decrease in the average number of children per marriage. In Egypt there are 1.8 fewer children born per couple, while in Tunisia the equivalent figure is 1.3.

1963 Iran

The White Revolution initiated by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leads to reforms that also strengthen women’s rights with respect to voting and marriage, for example. The Iranian education system by and large achieves parity of the sexes by 2016.

1957 West Germany

The wife remains responsible for the household in law. The husband’s right to the final decision is abolished. The community of accrued gains is introduced.

1957 West Germany

The wife “has the right to work to the extent that this is compatible with her duties within marriage and the family”.
Law on the Equality of Men and Women

1962 Mali

Family law permits men to have up to four wives yet promotes monogamy by obliging men to provide equally for each wife. This increases the financial burden and becomes an obstacle to polygamous marriage.

1960 Cameroon

With independence, a new constitution is adopted that emphasizes equal rights for all citizens. The new laws are aimed at improving the rights of women and children.

Late 1950s Cameroon

The increase in gender inequality results in conflict. Divorce rates soar; the institution of marriage is destabilized. In the land of the Bamileke, women destroy coffee plantations, organize strikes, and refuse to cook for their menfolk.

1955 Japan

Pregnancy terminations peak at 1,170,143. A third of all married women have had at least one abortion, primarily due to financial difficulties. Many turn to the Jizō Bodhisattva in an attempt to alleviate the emotional strain.

1963 Syria

The Baath party takes power in several Arab countries such as Syria. The party’s socialist principles emphasize equality of the sexes and women’s social and economic participation in public life.

1961 South Korea

The law aimed at morally reprehensible behaviour discriminates against poor, unmarried pregnant women. They are considered “likely to be sex workers” and are made to stay in homes for single mothers until the child’s birth. Their children are often put up for adoption.

1959 Australia

The Matrimonial Causes Act standardizes divorce law and introduces at-fault and no-fault divorce.

1958

Until 1975 Spain

Under the Franco regime strict moral policies prohibit, among other things, hugging or holding hands in public. These rules are not relaxed until after Franco’s death.

1970 West Germany

Student protests and the women’s movement fight for the reform of § 218 of the Penal Code, which makes abortion a punishable offence.

1970 Nigeria

The Matrimonial Causes Act introduces sweeping changes to divorce law and makes divorce easier in certain circumstances. Particular consideration is given to the welfare of children.

1970 West Germany / Switzerland

The ban on cohabitation, which had made “common law marriage” a punishable offence, is repealed in parts of Switzerland and West Germany: in Bavaria in 1970, in the canton of Zurich in 1972, in the canton of Schwyz in 1992, and in the canton of Valais in 1995.

1960s–70s USA

Communes are part of the counter-culture movement in reaction to traditional family structures and societal norms. Hippie communes such as Twin Oaks (Virginia) shape the alternative lifestyle by sharing property and living collectively.

1970 Syria

The nuclear family predominates: 72% of all households consist of one family core, 13% of several cores, mostly in conjunction with the daughter-in-law of the head of the household.

1972 North America

For the first time, a Californian court awards custody to a lesbian mother. Same-sex couples have hitherto not been given the right to care for children or adopt them. In fact, parental responsibility is often taken away from them.

1971 Tanzania

The Marriage Act specifies the minimum age and conditions for marriage. Monogamous marriage is encouraged.

1965 East Germany

The pill is introduced under the name of Ovosiston as a subsidized contraceptive.

Until 1974 West Germany

The husband has the right of final decision in issues concerning the marriage. Children without recognition of paternity are placed under the guardianship of the state. The mother is denied the right to make autonomous decisions on behalf of her child.

1970 West Germany

The average age at marriage is about 26 for men and 23.4 for women. A total of 575,233 marriages are contracted, amounting to 7.4 marriages per 1,000 residents.

Early 1970s East Germany

Marriage loans with low interest rates are introduced as a social measure for young couples in order to facilitate the establishment of a household and increase the birth rate.

1960s India

Some federal states introduce social pensions. For many, the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, aimed at the poorest of the elderly with no familial support, is a lifesaver.

1967 West Berlin

Kommune 1 is founded as the first politically motivated living community, shaped by the student movement, protest against authoritarian structures, and radical rejection of bourgeois forms of life.

1966–74 Greenland

IUDs (contraceptive coils) are fitted in half of the fertile women in Greenland without their own permission or that of their guardians in order to prevent them from having children. This is a painful procedure that is tantamount to forced sterilization.

1972 Cameroon

The Code de la Famille regulates marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Gender equality in marriage is enshrined in law, but in practice, patriarchal structures prevail.

1970s Egypt / Libya / Lebanon

In Egypt and Libya almost 100% of the population are married by the age of 50. That proportion is somewhat lower in Lebanon (women 93.1%, men 94.3%). In Beirut, a woman’s social position is linked less to the family.

1955–75 Vietnam

Women increasingly take on family responsibilities during the Vietnam War.

1968 Israel

After the Six-Day War, the Israeli population grows through land occupation. Family structures change, and everyday life is militarized. State-funded education and home ownership provide a stark contrast with the social tensions.

1967 Palestine / Lebanon / Jordan

Law, everyday life, and role images are shaped by occupation, displacement, and political tensions. Militarized borders divide families and prevent people from returning. Women adopt new roles as breadwinners or activists because the men are often absent.

1966

1974 Indonesia

A marriage law is passed and gender norms are fixed under General Suharto’s military government: “The husband is the head of the household, and the wife is the homemaker.” § 31.3

1978 China

Reform policies replace the dominant father-son family, which lasted into the 1980s, with families focused on the spouses. This shift in the family structure is influenced by strict birth control (one-child policy).

1966–76 China

The Cultural Revolution focuses on collective education. Schools and educational institutions take on responsibilities alongside families. Children are encouraged to live and learn in collectives.

Until 1976 West Germany

Husbands have the right to terminate their wife’s work contract on the grounds of neglect of household duties.

1972 East Germany

Women shall be free to make decisions about their own bodies. The contraceptive pill is free of charge, while abortions are unconditionally possible until the 12th week of pregnancy.

1976 West Germany

Sex as a marital duty is abolished in the course of the reform of marriage law. In East Germany, this had already happened in 1965 with the new marriage law. In the interests of equality between the spouses, sexual relations are to be consensual.

1979 Iran

Social unrest leads to the Shah fleeing the country. After Ayatollah Khomeini assumes power, family law is based on Sharia guidelines.

1972 Senegal

The new family law stipulates a maximum of three wives. Before marriage, the man is obliged to decide between monogamy and polygyny.

1975 Australia

The Family Law Act establishes the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as the only grounds for divorce and establishes the Family Court of Australia. Child welfare is the determining factor in child custody decisions.

1979 Afghanistan

The Soviet Union invades with the aim of fighting Islamic revolts. The war, which persists until 1989, has severe social and humanitarian consequences for families.

1977 Argentinia

During the military dictatorship, a group of Madres (matriarchs) protest in front of the presidential palace on Plaza de Mayo against the forced disappearance of family members. They walk around the square in silence because protesting while standing still is forbidden.

1979 Nigeria

The constitution recognizes the equality of the sexes and ensures that women are not discriminated against in matters of family law.

1965–98 Indonesia

The Orde Baru (New Order) includes one of the world’s largest resettlement programmes (Transmigrasi). Financially supported by Western governments, it implements forced family planning measures such as the dua anak cukup (“two children are enough”) programme.

1978 Great Britain

Louise Brown is the first baby born through in vitro fertilization – a milestone of reproductive medicine and the beginning of modern IVF.

1976 West Germany

Women are permitted to open a bank account and accept a job without their husband’s consent. Divorces can be enforced unilaterally; the principle of irretrievable breakdown replaces the principle of fault, enabling the wife to assert financial claims.

1979 Egypt

The legislation known as Jehan’s Laws (named after Jehan Sadat) gives wives the right to apply for divorce if their husband takes a second wife.

1975

Since 1980s South/Southeast Asia

Multinational fashion companies relocate their factories to Asia giving rise to the sweatshop. Low wages encourage child labour as a means of augmenting family income. A lack of education leads to fewer opportunities in the future.

1990 West Germany – East Germany

In East Germany, 72% of men agree that their partner has equal career opportunities and that household chores and childcare are shared equally by both spouses. Only 46% of men in West Germany agree.

1982 West Germany

In vitro fertilization is legalized. It has been legal in France since 1978.

1986 Israel

Shas and other nationalist religious parties campaign for stricter marriage laws, traditional gender roles, and a rejection of civil weddings.

1985 Western Europe

Surrogate motherhood is legalized in Great Britain, but the surrogate may not be paid for her services. Surrogacy is illegal in Germany and France; it becomes legal in Greece in 2002, as well as in Russia and Ukraine.

1980 Tanzania

The Inheritance Act is introduced to regulate inheritance rights and ensure that women and children are able to inherit.

1981 Cameroon

The Civil Status Registration Ordinance is introduced to strengthen women’s rights within the family and combat discrimination.

1980s Europe / North America

The care of AIDS patients by friends serving as chosen families gains significance. Close-knit social networks outside birth families provide the impetus for greater social acceptance of diverse lifestyles and forms of family.

1982 China

An obligation to support one’s parents is legally anchored in the constitution.

1980s Sub-Saharan Africa

Millions of children lose their parents (AIDS orphans) to the AIDS pandemic. Extended family households become increasingly common, with grandparents taking care of grandchildren. Families are plunged into poverty by the high cost of medical care.

1980 Kuwait

The nuclear family model predominates: 64% of households have one family core, 25% have two, while 8% have three, and 3% include four or more cores. The latter category consists of more than 15 people.

1984 Algeria

Legislation is passed stipulating that divorce is possible if a husband wishes or at the request of a wife. Previously only husbands could initiate divorce.

1987 Australia

The Family Law Act is changed with the aim of reinforcing shared parental responsibility and emphasizing child welfare.

1980 Middle East / North Africa

The birth rate drops to an average of 4.6 children per woman. Women with higher levels of education and living standards tend to have fewer children. Women living rurally have more children on average.

1983

Since 1999 Indonesia

After the end of the military government, the province of Aceh (Sumatra) gradually introduces Sharia law. This is supported by independence efforts.

1991 Germany

The Embryo Protection Act sets ethical limits to medical procedures. It prohibits cloning, egg donation and surrogate motherhood, genetic modification, and the use of embryos for any purpose other than to bring about a pregnancy.

1994 Germany – East Germany

§ 175 of the Penal Code, which had made homosexual acts a punishable offence, is abolished. In East Germany, it had already been annulled in 1988, with homosexuality in adults being decriminalized in 1973.

1995 Germany

§ 218 of the Penal Code is challenged with the accession of East Germany. Today’s abortion law is a compromise between the “periodic model” (legalizing termination up to the 12th week of pregnancy), compulsory counselling, and medical necessity.

1998 Tanzania

The Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act is introduced to combat violence against women and children and to protect their rights. Victims of violence receive legal protection.

1996 Great Britain

Dolly the sheep is born as the first cloned mammal, sparking ethical controversies worldwide. As a result, laws governing reproductive medicine become stricter and regulations for IVF and genetic research are tightened.

1995 Namibia

The Married Persons Equality Act regulates marriage and the rights of marital partners. It introduces clauses that promote gender equality within marriage.

1997 Germany

Rape within marriage becomes a punishable offence. Hitherto, husbands have had the right to have sexual relations with their wives, and rape has not been acknowledged as such. In East Germany, it had already been criminalized in 1988.

1997 North America

For the first time, a New Jersey court allows a same-sex couple to jointly adopt a child that is not related to either man.

1990 Namibia

A new constitution is introduced with independence. The equality of all citizens and human rights are enshrined in law – an important step towards fairer family legislation.

1998 Germany

With the abolition of mandatory official guardianship in cases where paternity is not recognized, women receive full custody of their children born out of wedlock.

1992

2000 North America

“The legislature shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between any white person and a negro, or descendant of a negro.”
Alabama constitution

2004 USA

Facebook is launched, leading to a new era of social media. It changes the way in which people interact with respect to the family too. What is public and what is private?

2001 Germany

The Act on Registered Life Partnerships is modelled on matrimonial law, with deviations in adoption and parentage law. The principle of secondary custody makes legitimate and illegitimate children equal before the law.

2000–2009 Germany

At least 209 babies are surrendered in 98 anonymous baby hatches. By 2012, the number has risen to 278 surrendered children, 652 anonymous births, and 43 anonymous handovers.

2003 Namibia

The Combating of Domestic Violence Act is introduced to protect victims of domestic violence and provide the legal means to tackle it.

2002 Germany

Domestic violence becomes a punishable offence. The Protection Against Violence Act allows victims to initiate legal measures and apply for protection. Domestic violence had been criminalized in East Germany in 1989.

2000 North America

Alabama is the last state to legalize “mixed race” marriage, which has been legal in other US states since a 1967 Supreme Court judgement.

2003 Nigeria

The Child’s Rights Act is introduced to protect the rights of children and ensure that their interests are taken into account in all matters of family law.

2002 Tanzania

The Law of Marriage Act introduces sweeping reforms to family law, including provisions on divorce, child custody, and maintenance. It underscores gender equality in marriage.

2004 India

Only 35% of people over the age of 60 are economically independent of their families and able to support themselves. The majority of the older generation is financially supported by their adult children.

2000 Egypt

A law enables women to apply for a khulʿ divorce without gaining approval from the husband; this is a major change, as women were previously only able to divorce if they could prove that abuse had occurred.

2000 Germany

The Civil Code categorically forbids corporal punishment and other abusive methods as a means of education. The integrity of the child’s body is protected.

2004 Morocco

Reforms to Moroccan family law (Moudawana) increases equality between the sexes. It blends Islamic principles with human rights and despite criticism is regarded as a role model for other Muslim countries.

2000

2005 Germany

The right to adopt stepchildren in same-sex life partnerships is introduced.

2007 North America

A mini baby boom occurs: female immigrants from Latin America have the highest birth rate. 40% of children are born to unmarried mothers.

2005 South Korea

Changes in family law lead to the abolition of the patriarchal household head system (hojuje) and creates the legal basis for gender equality and increased rights for all family members.

2008 North America

The collapse of the real-estate market in the US leads to global recession. Millions of families lose their homes through foreclosure when they miss mortgage repayments and get into debt.

2005 South Korea

The abolishment of the ­hoju system (patrilineal family register) promotes increasing equality of the sexes in terms of custody issues, inheritance, and property rights.

2007 India

Under penalty of imprisonment, the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act legally obliges children to care for their parents. The elderly often live together with their children in coresidence. Urban migration and the trend towards small families raise doubts about this form of old-age security.

2007 North America

The mobile phone industry launches the smartphone era, which brings widespread changes to communal life, particularly with respect to relationships among family and friends.

2010 Argentinia

Same-sex marriage is introduced for the first time in a South American country. More flexible family structures are legalized.

2009 India

The Right to Education Act introduces a basic right of education for every child between the ages of 6 and 14. Since then, nearly all children have attended primary school.

2006 Namibia

The Child’s Right’s Act is introduced to strengthen children’s rights and ensure that their interests are taken into account in all legal matters affecting them.

2006

2022 Mexico

Same-sex marriages are legalized.

2017 Germany

Marriage for all is introduced and marriage is legally defined as the lifetime union of two people of different sexes or the same sex.

2015 Great Britain

Since 2015, British law has permitted mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) – a form of in vitro fertilization with genetic material from three people.

2015 Nigeria

The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act is introduced as an intervention against violence including domestic violence. It has implications for family relations and victim protection.

2016 Cameroon

Reforms to the Penal Code strengthen existing laws with more comprehensive measures to combat domestic violence.

2018 Australia

The Family Law Act is modified to meet new family needs, including recognition of same-sex unions and non-traditional family structures.

2022 Afghanistan

The Taliban regime prohibits school education for girls. Long years of war have left over 56% of all children living in multidimensional poverty.

2012 Australia

Family law reform leads to the introduction of the Family Law Legislation Amendment Act aimed at protecting individuals from domestic violence. Custody decisions are also based on these factors.

2019 Chile

The Chilean performance group Las Tesis denounces violence against women with their song Un violador en tu camino. In 2019 this protest anthem becomes a global symbol of feminist resistance.

2022 Indonesia

The law combating sexual violence forbids extramarital intercourse and makes unmarried cohabitation punishable. Adultery remains illegal.

2011 Germany

The Pre-Implantation Diagnosis Act allows genetic testing of embryos before implantation in special cases only, such as if there is a risk of grave hereditary disease – and only under strict legal constraints.

2017–18 Tunisia

Domestic violence is made a punishable offence in 2017. In 2018, a law to introduce equality in inheritance law fails to pass. However, the prohibition on women marrying non-Muslim men is lifted.

2021 Australia

After the legalization of same-sex marriage, family law is modified to ensure the same rights and obligations apply to all couples.

2015 South Korea

The Supreme Court repeals the law punishing adultery and declares such punishment unconstitutional.

2016–21 China

The so-called two-child policy replaces the one-child policy, which was in effect in China for 35 years. It proved so ineffective that in 2021 it was replaced with the three-child policy in an attempt to combat the effects of the falling birth rate.

2021 Germany

The parental leave and parental allowance reforms seek to make it easier to combine family life with a career and to motivate fathers to take parental leave. Under the enlarged partnership bonus system, the parental allowance is paid for longer if they share parental leave.

2012

2025 Sumatra

The Minangkabau are the world’s largest matrilineal and matrilocal culture. Land and property are inherited via the female line. Women own rice fields, houses, and other property, which ensures their financial independence.

2024 South Korea / Japan / Singapore

Levels of childlessness peak. This is due to a variety of social, economic, and cultural factors. In South Korea, over 35% of women aged 40 to 44 have no children, one of the highest rates worldwide.

2024 Europe

Italy, Spain, and Greece have a relatively high rate of childless people at 20–25%. The figure for Germany is 20% and 15–20% for Sweden and Norway.

2023 Europe

Family time comprises 2–4 hours per day, including mealtimes, conversations, games, and shared activities, for a total of 15–25 hours per week. In Scandinavia, Italy, and Spain, it is 3–4 hours per day.

2023 Europe

In Germany, 45% of children are born out of wedlock, as are 65% in France, 40% in the UK, and 25% in Russia. In Italy the proportion is 25% and in Spain, 35% – with the numbers rising in all countries.

2025 USA

In 27 US states, child marriage continues to be possible from the age of 16. In four of these, there is no minimum age for marriage, provided that the parents consent. The USA is the only UN member not to have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

2023 Europe

The proportion of patchwork families throughout Europe is c.15%. A significant number of families consist of parents with children from previous relationships. The proportion of single parents is c.10–20%.

2024 North America

As part of the tradwife fashion, young women present themselves as traditional housewives: cooking, baking, and giving marriage advice. This trend reinforces an elite, patriarchal image of women which has racist political undertones.

2025 Middle East

The war in Gaza brings death, destruction, and displacement for families in Palestine. The consequences are colossal, resulting in thousands of deaths and a shattered infrastructure. Women and children are disproportionately affected.