Women 's Roles During The Victorian Era

During the nineteenth century, women had few rights, and were often objectified by men. An ideal woman was subservient to her husband, had plenty of children, and was not expected to work outside the home. As the Victorian era progressed, some women

In 1893, Jane and her fellow workers went before the state of Illinois to examine laws governing child labor, the factory inspection system,

The Victorian Era women was vastly different than the female we think of nowadays. Women during that time were expected to fulfill more of a domestic and motherly role, one that stayed at home and took care of the house. They were confined within the private sphere of the world while the men toiled away in the public sphere. The ideal Victorian women was described as:

During the Victorian era, gender roles became separated and entered into different spheres that only interacted at specific moments. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere. Not only

Social standing, and moral values were vital elements in Victorian society, and the fundamental doctrine of establishing this ideology, began at home. The home provided a refuge from the rigour, uncertainty, anxiety, and potential violence of the outside world. (P, 341) A woman’s role was to provide a safe, stable, and well-organised environment for their husbands and families. However, change was on the horizon with an underlying movement of business and domestic changes both home and abroad, with industrialization, and the suffragist movement. Women were beginning to gain autonomy and began to grasp their opportunities, thus significantly curtailing male supremacy and the definable acceptable ‘role’ of the woman.

Throughout the 19th century, especially during the Victorian era, gender roles became very distinctive. There were certain characteristics that the ideal Victorian man or woman were expected to have which emphasized patriarchal superiority. The patriarchal system meant that males had dominance in their homes, specifically over women. The ideal man during this time period would focus on achieving job related success which, in turn, would show that he is an eligible suitor to get married. It was seen as important for the man to have a family to support and protect, which also gave him the opportunity to exercise authority within his household. While the men went off to work to provide for their families, the women stayed home to perform their motherly duties in addition to keeping busy around the house. It was expected of Victorian women to have feminine, graceful, and innocent attributes. In fact, before they found spouses, the ladies were taught to be pure and to have strong morals. Also, “higher education and professional work” were discouraged because it was thought that it “could lead to all sorts of covert rebellion” (Hughes). Although these gender roles were usually very distinctive, in some cases they became muddled. In the novel, Dracula, the author, Bram Stoker, contradicts Victorian Era principles to illustrate that socially constructed gender roles are not absolute.

In the early 1900s woman didn’t have many rights. In the Victorian time woman was put in and judge by their classes. In England Queen Victorian ruled the country. In this time child labor laws was horrible. The woman would have kids and they kids was working. At this time people was at an all-time low. If you didn’t have money you was needed to work cause your family would need the money. So you have 10 -14 maybe younger than that working in mills. And do wat they need to so they can live.

There was no equality between man and woman in the Victorian era. “The patriarchic system was the norm and women usually led a more secluded, private life. Men, on the other hand, possessed all kinds of freedom” (“Gender Roles”). Moreover, “the man was naturally the head of the family and the guardian of family members. He was the protector and the lord.

women were supposedly restricted to an idealized private or domestic sphere, while men were free to move between this and the public and economic spheres” (p. 1). Victorian ideology of gender rested on the

Gender roles are determined by the behavior, attitude, physical strength and the mental being of one. The Victorian era was a crucial time period for gender roles. Men and women’s roles became more strictly defined than at any point in history. Victorian women were known as having the “simple” tasks and not having much “duty”. During this time period, it was all about the “women and the world” and “women and the house.”

The ideal Victorian man was to be honorable, respectful, strong, intelligent, well dressed, emotionless, have good income and provide a home for their family. They had absolute social standing above women and was the dominant sex during this time. Once married a man had control of all aspect of a woman’s life. A woman’s properties, her body, and social right was all handed over to her husband. Before a man is to be married, he must prove that he is finically stable and be able to provide for his chosen mistress.

In the Victorian era, the status of women in society was extremely oppressive and, by modern standards, atrocious. Women had few rights, in or outside of the home. Married women in this period relied on men almost completely as they had few rights or independence. With this mindset in focus,

Despite being under the rule of a female monarch, women faced many inequalities and suffering during the Victorian age. Examples of these inequalities include not having the right to vote, unequal educational and employment opportunities. Women were even denied the legal right to divorce in most cases. As the Norton Anthology states, these debates over women’s rights and their roles came to be known as the “woman question” by the Victorians. This lead to many conflicting struggles, such as the desire by all for women to be educated, yet they are denied the same opportunities afforded to men. While these women faced these difficulties, there was also the notion that women should be domestic and feminine. There was an ideal that women should be submissive and pure because they are naturally different. The industrial revolution introduced women into the labor workforce, but there was still a conflict between the two identities; one of an employed woman, and one of a domestic housewife.

The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 until 1901 when she died. Although the Victorian era was good for the United Kingdom in many ways, it was also a time where there were great differences in gender equality leaving women with very few rights. Therefore, making it a period when women began to demand equal treatment to men and although their rights would not be equal until the 20th Century, Victorian women started the idea. This essay looks at 5 key areas of Victorian life to show the gender and sexuality issues that existed. First, it will describe the Victorian idea of ‘separate spheres’ for men and women. Second, it will look at education and work to show how difficult it was for women to be

Women in England during the Victorian Era were forced into a mold; their ideal function being marriage and procreation. They were expected to submit to their husbands, look pretty (but not feel passion), and learn everything having to do with sewing and entertainment (but nothing else), all while being expected to support their family. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an educated woman in Victorian England who was able to step out of this mold and exercise her talent for writing. Browning admired and was inspired by a writer named George Sand. George Sand was the pseudonym that French novelist and poet Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin took on to gain acceptance and respect from her audience as a female author during her time. Browning marveled