Women in the Victorian era
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The status of women in the Victorian era is often seen as an illustration of the striking discrepancy between England's national power and wealth and what many, then and now, consider its appalling social conditions. Women were seen as pure and clean. Because of this view, their bodies were seen as temples which should not be adorned with jewellery nor used for physical exertion or pleasurable sex. The role of women was to have children and tend to the house, in contrast to men, according to the concept of Victorian masculinity.
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[edit] Roles
[edit] Mistresses of households
The first mention of a woman being described as the mistress of a household was in 1861 by Isabella Beeton in her manual Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. Here she explained that the mistress of a household is comparable to the Commander of an Army or the leader of an enterprise. To run a respectable household and secure the happiness, comfort and well-being of her family she must perform her duties intelligently and thoroughly. For example, she has to organize, delegate and instruct her servants which is not an easy task as many of them are not reliable. Another duty described by Beeton is that of being the "sick-nurse" who takes care of ill family members. This requires a good temper, compassion for suffering and sympathy with sufferers, neat-handedness, quiet manners, love of order and cleanliness; all qualities a woman worthy of the name should possess in the 19th century. A very special connection existed between women and their brothers. Sisters had to treat their brothers as they would treat their future husbands. They were dependent on their male family members as the brother's affection might secure their future in case their husband treated them badly or they did not get married at all. Furthermore, while it was very easy to lose one's reputation, it was difficult to establish a reputation. For example, it was not uncommon for whole families to be stigmatised as a result of the misdeeds of one individual member of that family.
[edit] Work
Large numbers of working class women worked in factories, or in the garment industry or in laundries or at various other jobs. From the mid-1850s nursing became a respectable occupation for women. Large numbers of women worked as nurses in the American Civil War, and in England nursing schools were started to give women a proper training. Women were increasingly employed in offices in the later part of the century, the invention of the typewriter led to an increase in office jobs for women, as they were found to make better typists than men. When the telephone was invented they were employed as telephone switchboard operators. Large numbers worked as sales clerks in the new department stores. Some women broke into professions like medicine, law, and journalism. The enterprising American journalist Nellie Bly, for instance, was famous for 'stunt' journalism, and became the first person to actually try and go around the world in 80 days, inviting comparisons to Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg in the book 'Around the World in 80 Days'.
[edit] Education
In the early part of the Victorian age, girls of the upper and middle class were educated mainly in 'fashionable' subjects like French, drawing, painting, singing, dancing and playing the piano. However, in the later part of the century, giving girls a proper education became more important, and schools like Cheltenham Ladies' College and Rodean were established, offering girls an education broadly modelled on that of boys of the same class, with an emphasis on academic subjects and outdoor games. The expansion of the educational system for poor children meant that both boys and girls of the working class were guaranteed a basic education, though many left school early to work. From the 1870s, women's colleges were started in places like Oxford and Cambridge, which offered female students an education on a par with that of men, though it wasn't until the 20th century that they gained full acceptance by the universities. In America, women made up a third of the student population by 1880.
[edit] Attempts
[edit] Reforming divorce laws
A number of changes were made to the legal status of women in the 19th century, especially concerning marriage laws. The fact that fathers always received custody of their children, leaving the mother completely without any rights, slowly started to change. The Custody of Infants Act in 1839 gave mothers of unblemished character access to their children in the event of separation or divorce, and the Matrimonial Causes Act in 1857 gave women limited access to divorce. But while the husband only had to prove his wife's adultery, a woman had to prove her husband had not only committed adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion. In 1873 the Custody of Infants Act extended access to children to all women in the event of separation or divorce. In 1878, after an amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Act, women could secure a separation on the grounds of cruelty and claim custody of their children. Magistrates even authorized protection orders to wives whose husbands have been convicted of aggravated assault. An important change was caused by an amendment to the Married Women's Property Act in 1884 that made a woman no longer a 'chattel' but an independent and separate person. Through the Guardianship of Infants Act in 1886, women could be made the sole guardian of their children if their husband died.
[edit] Reform of prostitution laws
The situation of prostitutes—and as was later demonstrated women in general—was actually worsened through the 'First Contagious Diseases Prevention Act' in 1864. In towns with a large military population, women suspected of being prostitutes had to subject themselves to an involuntary periodic genital examination. If they were diagnosed with an illness they were confined to hospitals until they were cured. This law applied to women only since military doctors believed that these examinations were shameful and would destroy a man's self-respect. Since the decision about who was a prostitute was left to the judgment of police officers, a great deal of women were examined who were not actually prostitutes. After two extensions of the law in 1866 and 1869, the acts were finally repealed in 1886.
[edit] Second-class citizens
Despite the fact that Britain's head of state was a woman, women could not vote. For much of the Victorian era, however, most men were also unable to vote. The franchise was extended to include most men in towns and some men living in rural areas in 1867, which doubled the electorate. However, agricultural labourers were not given the vote until 1884. Many women did not consider the vote to be of much importance anyway, and some women were opposed to the idea of women getting involved in politics. They believed women would be better occupied concentrating on improving the lives of other women and children though working to improve healthcare, education, and social services.
[edit] Further reading
- Hellerstein, Erna Olafson, Leslie Parker Hume, and Karen M. Offen. Victorian Women: A Documentary Account of Women's Lives in Nineteenth-Century England, France, and the United States. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0804710880.
- Rappaport, Erika. Shopping for pleasure. Women in the making of London's West End. Princeton, New Jersey:University of Nevada
[edit] References
Foner, Eric. Volume 1: to 1877. "GIVE ME LIBERTY! An American History". Seagull Ed. (2005-2006) Norton & Company. New York. London. 390-394
