As Women’s Day was honoured and commemorated, it has been very enlightening to read of the terrible plight of women in controlled marriage and that such treatment warrants imprisonment in a civilised society.

Women who married during the 1940s and 50s were instructed to love, honour and obey.

Such a controlled situation stifles the growth of personality, thwarts the choice of friends, stems any creative life and diminishes every day to the routine of household chores.

As with all things, conditioning a society becomes a way of life and is accepted as the norm.

Hopefully, today there is respect for equality in the union of marriage that will engender freedom of personality to recognise each other’s gifts and embrace the years with happiness and personal fulfilment.

After all, it has been a very long journey for women since they/we were bought for £1 until 1649, and the subsequent years, until 1928, when women won their entitlement to vote.

To control another human being is to violate their precious persona. To love and respect engenders security, happiness and peace of mind.

Mary Ratcliffe Old Town Swindon