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Writing was a central way for Catharine Waugh McCulloch to convey her legal understanding and positions to the public. She believed that even though most people did not have law degrees, they could still be aware of how their lives were influenced by the law. She wrote about legal issues in an accessible and engaging way that helped lay readers understand their legal rights, often with the intention of galvanizing those readers to take action to reform discriminatory policies

In 1905 the Illinois House and Senate passed a bill raising the legal age of consent from 14 to 16 years old. Catharine Waugh McCulloch had led the charge on this issue as it directly related to her other efforts to enhance women’s legal rights. On the surface, age of consent applied to all sexes, but advocates’ intent for raising these laws in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was for the protection of young women and girls. In 1899 the age of consent in some jurisdict

After graduating from Union College of Law and returning to Rockford to open her law practice, Catharine Waugh McCulloch went back to the Rockford Female Seminary to pursue an M.A. Her thesis titled “Women’s Wages” spoke to women’s lack of legal status through the lens of income inequality and coverture laws. Under these laws, which were common in Europe and the U.S. at the time, the government viewed women as not citizens but a part of their father’s or husband’s property. S