This Act enabled every married woman to have and to hold her own separate property, and to dispose of it by deed, will, or otherwise, as if she were a femme sole (woman alone). These rights applied to all real and personal property which she owned at the time of her marriage, and also that which devolved on her (for instance, through inheritance or gifts) after her marriage. She also retained in her own right any earnings and property gained in any employment or occupation in which she was engaged, or “by the exercise of any literary, artistic, or scientific skill”.