18th century

• 1775 Jane Austen born.

• French Revolution 1789-1799

• System of primogeniture favours first born sons.

• Unmarried women and widows have a right to inherit money and property.  Married women are bound by coverture which means all their property and money transfers to their husbands upon marriage and they do not exist as separate entities in law.

• Robinson Crusoe (1719) - the first novel in English

• James Fordyce Sermons to Young Women (1766)- a set of rules of conduct which are to make the young woman desirable in the eyes of God, society, and in particular, its men

• Mary Wollstonecraft Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)- discusses how girls can best be educated to become valuable wives and mothers. It argues that women can offer the most effective contribution to society if they are brought up to display sound morals, character and intellect, rather than superficial social graces.

• Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)- attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity, and instead laid out the principles of emancipation: an equal education for girls and boys, an end to prejudice, and for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner.

  KEY CULTURAL FIGURE:

• Bluestocking, a group of women who in mid-18th-century England held “conversations” to which they invited men of letters and members of the aristocracy with literary interests. The Blue Stockings Society of England emerged in about 1750, and waned in popularity at the end of the 18th century. It was a loose organisation of privileged women with an interest in education to gather together to discuss literature while inviting educated men to participate. In the 1800, any female intellectual might be labelled a bluestocking, whether or not she could claim a link to the original circle

19th century

• Gender roles- Men belonged to the public sphere, in the realms of politics, commerce, religion, and academia. They should be physically strong and serve as the breadwinners of their families. Women, on the other hand, belonged to the private sphere, raising the family and caring for the home, and should be delicate and demure.

• Death of Jane Austen 1817.

• The ‘New’ Poor Law (1834) releases fathers from any obligation to support their illegitimate children.

• London Society for Women’s Suffrage formed (1867).

• Josephine Butler campaigns against the Contagious Diseases Act (1864).  The Act was repealed 1886. The Acts were introduced as an attempt to regulate 'common prostitutes', in order to reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases within the British army and navy.

• The Married Women’s Property Acts (from 1870) allows women to keep their property on marriage.  Married women now exist in law in the UK.

• Access to higher education: Smith College USA (later attended by Sylvia Plath) founded 1871, Girton College, Cambridge University’s first college for women (1869) meets fierce resistance, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University’s first college for women (1878), 1880 London University the first to award women degrees

• Jane Austen achieves first publication with Sense and Sensibility (1811)

• JS Mill The Subjection of Women (1869)-  introduced his arguments for perfect equality which he believed could exist if neither men nor women were legally suppressed.

• Charlotte perkins Gilaman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)

• Mona Caird, The morality of marriage (1897)- She analyses the indignities marriage causes for women, both historically and contemporaneously, and advocates both equality in marriage (including in domestic duties) and women's economic independence. Caird also examines and criticises contemporary ideals of motherhood, discussing legislation and changes in social attitudes which would improve the lives of mothers.

  KEY CULTURAL FIGURES:

• The rebellious child

• The governess

• The Angel in the house

• The fallen woman

• The new woman 

20th century 

• Suffrage campaign increases in momentum. 

• WW1 1914-1918

• Women over 30 who own property enfranchised 1918.

• (1921) An amendment to the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1885) is proposed to make lesbianism an ‘act of gross indecency’ and punishable by law.  The proposal is defeated (because ‘few women could believe such acts existed and the law would only draw attention to such acts’!) 

• Matrimonial Causes Act (1923) makes grounds for divorce the same for men and women.

• Marie Stopes Mothers’ Clinic (1925) opens to fierce opposition, providing contraceptive advice to married women.

• All women over the age of 21 are enfranchised (same as men) 1928.

• Sylvia Plath born 1932.

• Access to higher education: Women are awarded degrees from Oxford University (1920) and Cambridge University (1948). Smith College awards degrees from 1901.

• (1948) the National Health Service was introduced in Britain.

• Sylvia Plath graduated from Smith College 1955.

• Death of Sylvia Plath 1963.

• (1967) Contraceptive pill becomes available in Family Planning clinics.  Contraceptive advice given regardless of marital status.

• (1975) Sex Discrimination Act

• (1979) Margaret Thatcher first female Prime Minister.  She held the post until 1990.

• Virgian Woolf A room of One’s own (1929)-  addressed the status of women, and women artists in particular, in this famous essay, which asserts that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write

• Virgian Woolf’s Professions for women (1931)-  seeks to compel women to rise up from the sacrificial and selfless women of the nineteenth century, so that they can reach their potential.

• Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex (1949) ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, woman'- 

• Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar (1963)

• Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique (1963)- described the pervasive dissatisfaction among women in mainstream American society in the post-World War II period.

  KEY CULTURAL FIGURES:

• The new woman- Expressing autonomy and individuality, the new woman represented the tendency of young women at the turn of the century to reject their mothers' ways in favor of new, modern choices. 

• The invert- Sexual inversion is a theory of homosexuality popular primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa.

• The suffragette- suffragettes were part of the 'Votes for Women' campaign that had long fought for the right of women to vote in the UK. They used art, debate, propaganda, and attack on property including window smashing and arson to fight for female suffrage. Suffrage means the right to vote in parliamentary and general elections.

• The male hysteric- The notion of male hysteria was initially connected to the post-traumatic disorder known as railway spine; later, it became associated with war neurosis.

• The surplus woman- Surplus women is a phrase coined during the Industrial Revolution referring to a perceived excess of unmarried women in Britain.

• The flapper- Flappers did not adhere to the traditional social constraints and instead pushed boundaries. They engaged in activities deemed unladylike at the time, such as attending social events without chaperones, smoking and drinking in public, and being more open about discussing—as well as engaging in—sexual activity.

• The housewife- traditional women who stayed at home and did things such as cooking, cleaning, looking after the children and maintaining a comforting and loving environment