In the 1830s-1850s there is a state-by-state march to allow married women to own (but not control) property, or to control it, but only if their husband is incapacitated.
1860s-1870s, married women being granted "Separate economy," (as in, being allowed to keep what she earns.)
Throughout the whole page, unmarried women seem almost non-existent, except when it comes to laws about birth control. I don't know if this means that women had rights until they got married, and then forfeited all authority to their husband, or if they were legal children under the authority of their father until they were married, and that's why there's such a blank where they are concerned.
1850 is the first place I see a provision for unmarried women, allowing them to own land in Oregon. Actually, it's the only one I can find on that page, though The Guardian (lefty Brit rag) says the US Homestead act of 1862 "made it easier" for women (even single women) to buy land.
Of course, there's a big difference between legally allowed to and cannot be prohibited from ... and I think this is the crux of the matter. It's not that the government necessarily prohibited women from doing certain things (although it did sometimes) but that men were free to be extremely uncooperative. Free to flatly refuse to let a woman open a bank account at their bank, let her into their universities, give her a loan to pay for said education, hire her at their companies... for instance:
1896, women allowed to practice law, but there was no protection against being barred from practicing law (not by the government, but by the schools and lawfirms) till 1971.
Most rights seemed contingent upon a male authority:1948, women could be bartenders if and only if their husband or father owned the bar.
Here is where it starts to change:
1963, Equal Pay Act
1964, Civil Rights Act
1968 Fair Housing Act
1972 women can't be denied federal aid for school
1973 military benefits must be equal
1974 Equal Credit (women can't be barred from applying for credit)
1978 Navy women allowed on ships (this matters to me because I enlisted in 1985)
1980- sexual discrimination prohibited in universities
1981 - sexual harassment is discrimination
Yeah, I have to say, without feminism, those changes in the 1960s-1970s about being able to have a line of credit, equal access to aid for school, right to rent an apartment, equal pay... I was born in 1965. I was directly affected by laws that prohibited discrimination against me as an unmarried woman.
Thanks, Apl.
Glad it worked for you. Thanks for all the research.