The first law to apply the same rights to all women in the entire country by national law (including Finland, then a Swedish province), was the Civil Code of 1734, which, in the question of women's status, was in place more or less unaltered until the second half of the 19th century.
In the Civil Code of 1734, all unmarried women were defined as legal minors regardless of age, and placed under the guardianship of their closest male relative (or mother, if the mother was widowed).
She was given the right to contest her guardian in court and have another appointed by the court, and when adult, she had the right to make a will.
Finally, an unmarried woman could be liberated from guardianship by a petition to the monarch.
Upon the day of her marriage, she was placed under the coverture of her husband.
However, men was banned from selling the property of their wife without her consent, wives were given the right to sell property and handle affairs in the absence of her husband, and both spouses regardless of gender were secured the right to divorce upon adultery, upon which the innocent party was secured custody of the children.
When widowed (or divorced), a woman regardless of age reached legal majority.

The Guild Regulation of 1720 explicitly granted women permission to be active within the Guilds, and there were several amendments added to it which favored women's professional rights, most of them issued by local city authorities to make it possible for destitute women to support themselves, notably the reform of 1741 dropping guild membership requirement for innkeepers, and the reform of 1749, in which the permit to engage in street- and market trade in Stockholm were to be issued in favor of poor women, reforms which made two very common professions for poor women more accessible.

In 1741, a reform abolished the Public humiliation punishment of Uppenbar kyrkoplikt for unmarried mothers to prevent infanticide, and in 1778, the Infanticide Act (Sweden) was introduced: in order to spare unmarried mothers from the social stigma which was the common motive for them to kill their infants, mothers were allowed to travel to a place where they were unknown by the community and give birth anonymously, midwives were forbidden to expose their identity, and should they decide to keep their child, their unmarried status was to be hidden by the authorities to spare them social embarrassment.

The Age of Enlightenment in many ways offered a more public role for women in Sweden, especially within the artistic professions, and women were officially recognized: Eva Ekeblad was inducted in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Ulrika Pasch in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, and Elisabeth Olin in the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Numerous schools for girls were founded in the 18th century: in 1786, Societetsskolan, the first serious educational institution for females, was founded.
An achievement to arouse attention was that of Aurora Liljenroth, who graduated from the gymnasium of Visingsö in 1788.
The first law to apply the same rights to all women in the entire country by national law (including Finland, then a Swedish province), was the Civil Code of 1734, which, in the question of women's status, was in place more or less unaltered until the second half of the 19th century. In the Civil Code of 1734, all unmarried women were defined as legal minors regardless of age, and placed under the guardianship of their closest male relative (or mother, if the mother was widowed). She was given the right to contest her guardian in court and have another appointed by the court, and when adult, she had the right to make a will. Finally, an unmarried woman could be liberated from guardianship by a petition to the monarch. Upon the day of her marriage, she was placed under the coverture of her husband. However, men was banned from selling the property of their wife without her consent, wives were given the right to sell property and handle affairs in the absence of her husband, and both spouses regardless of gender were secured the right to divorce upon adultery, upon which the innocent party was secured custody of the children. When widowed (or divorced), a woman regardless of age reached legal majority.
The Guild Regulation of 1720 explicitly granted women permission to be active within the Guilds, and there were several amendments added to it which favored women's professional rights, most of them issued by local city authorities to make it possible for destitute women to support themselves, notably the reform of 1741 dropping guild membership requirement for innkeepers, and the reform of 1749, in which the permit to engage in street- and market trade in Stockholm were to be issued in favor of poor women, reforms which made two very common professions for poor women more accessible.
In 1741, a reform abolished the Public humiliation punishment of Uppenbar kyrkoplikt for unmarried mothers to prevent infanticide, and in 1778, the Infanticide Act (Sweden) was introduced: in order to spare unmarried mothers from the social stigma which was the common motive for them to kill their infants, mothers were allowed to travel to a place where they were unknown by the community and give birth anonymously, midwives were forbidden to expose their identity, and should they decide to keep their child, their unmarried status was to be hidden by the authorities to spare them social embarrassment.
The Age of Enlightenment in many ways offered a more public role for women in Sweden, especially within the artistic professions, and women were officially recognized: Eva Ekeblad was inducted in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Ulrika Pasch in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, and Elisabeth Olin in the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Numerous schools for girls were founded in the 18th century: in 1786, Societetsskolan, the first serious educational institution for females, was founded. An achievement to arouse attention was that of Aurora Liljenroth, who graduated from the gymnasium of Visingsö in 1788.
Women in Sweden