9.1 Women in the Victorian period

“Separate Spheres”: consensus

• men and women are fundamentally different

• women “suited” for caring functions

ideal of “separate spheres” for women

• for upper/middle class: ideal of the “angel in the house”; charitable work possible

• for working class women: wives (and children) usually had to work

ideal of “separate spheres” for men

public sphere for men: employment, politics

patriarchal structures thought necessary for …

social order

Class differences for women means that…

• their life-experiences were vastly different

• there was no cross-class female consciousness or solidarity

middle class women

• no paid employment (but management of household)

• responsible for presenting perfect image

• charitable work possible

• subservient to men (but manage servants)

working class women

• even married women usually have to work

• manual labour

• many more women work in service than in factories

• subservient to men both at work and at home

ideal working condition for women:

• married women shouldn’t do paid work

• impossible for working class women

main sectors for working women

• domestic service

• textile mills

• agriculture

working conditions for women

• lower pay than men

• worse working conditions than men

“Coverture”

at marriage, husband and wife become one legal entity, represented by the husband

Matrimonial causes act (1857)

makes divorce at civil courts possible

married women’s property act (1870)

gives married woman right to her earning and to some inheritance

Married women’s property act (1882)

allowed women to own, buy, and sell property, keep any income from the property or an occupation, and keep any inheritance (also equal responsibility for children)

first woman admitted to University of London

1868

endowed schools act (1869)

• leads to the creation of new secondary schools for girls

• most middle-class girls continue to go to “traditional” schools (focussing on “accomplishments”)

elementary education act (1870)

• re-organizes schools

• elementary education becomes compulsory in 1880

college for women at Benslow House (when?)

1869

1865: John Stuart Mill (MP) argues for…

female franchise

in 1869, female suffrage in local elections for…

tax-paying women (unmarried with property)

1894: women can become elected members of local councils, e.g.

school boards and poor law unions

in Political parties, wealthy women are active in the background, e.g.

• Primrose league

• Fabian Society

• Women’s Liberal Federation

women participate in political campaigns, e.g.

• abolitionism

• anti corn-law league

• chartism

“Donna Quixote” =

satirical poem

prejudice for educated women

distracted from their true destiny of bearing children

E.F. Beson: “Dodo” (1893)

• satirical novel

• main character Dodo well educated, headstrong, self-centered, “unwomanly”

Henrik Ibsen: “A Doll’s House” (1878) questions…

gender roles in a conventional marriage

Leo Tolstoy: “Anna Karenina” (1878) questions…

social norms and exposes unequal gender norms

Society’s expectations

• “decorum”

• reputation is extremely important

• “Faults” sanctioned more severely for women

• concept of the “fallen woman”

women in Military

• idea of volunteer corps for women

• women would be able to defend themselves in their homes in case of war

“Tyrant Man”

appears mainly in anti-feminist texts as alleged point of feminists

marriage laws

even reformed marriage laws are still unequal