Arranged marriages were very common throughout the world until the 18th century. Typically, marriages were arranged by parents, grandparents or other relatives. The actual practices varied by culture, but usually involved the legal transfer of dependency of the woman from her father to the groom. The movement towards emancipation of women in the 19th and 20th centuries led to major changes to marriage laws, especially in regard to property and economic status. By the mid-20th century, many Western countries had enacted legislation establishing legal equality between spouses in family law. The period of 1975–1979 saw a major overhaul of family laws in countries such as Italy,