The Brink family were an example of the rights enjoyed by Boer women in the Boer Republics: Uniquely — from the 18th century, Boer women had equal land-rights, equal church-membership rights, were allowed to divorce and hold their own bank accounts; and as land-owners also had voting rights; they lost all these rights during the British occupation of South Africa because British women had none of those rights; and Boer women twice marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demand equal rights for their defeated nation: in 1915 and 1940.