Throughout the 19th. century and at the beginning of the 20th various European states, including those of Britain, Germany, France and Belgium, undertook fairly similar measures affecting women. These had a bearing on their civic status, political rights and rights at work. The aim of this study is to seek a pattern of these farms of intervention. Though the case of Belgium is used to illustrate this proposed pattern, it can be held valid for other European countries, despite slight differences in their application or the fact that these steps took place at varying dates according to the precise stage of development of the countries concerned.