Women´s Roles

Women's roles in the Victorian era.

Group 6. Marta Cuenca, Laura Rico, Alba Muñoz, Paula Cañas y Teresa Pérez.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronté

INDEX

1. Introduction.

2. Lower class.

3. Middle class.

4. Higher class. 5. Divorce and legal discrimination. 6. Women in the workforce. 7. Education. 8. Sexuality and morality. 9. Women´s rights. 10. Prostitution.

1. INTRODUCTION.

We are going to talk about the different women's roles in the Victorian Era. In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period. Victorian period was influenced by the reform act in 1832. Moreover this period was also marked by extreme diversities with the industrial reforms, cultural progress, scientific advancement on one hand and poverty and wars on the other.

2. Lower class

Women of this class came from extreme poverty and they worked as prostitutes, laborers or in activities which involves physical exertion. Women were considered to be a sign of purity except during their menstrual cycles. Their bodies were like temples and they couldn´t be engaged in any strong activity neither pleasurable sex. They only had to keep their husband happy and to look after their children. Their rights were similar to children´s ones. They weren´t allow to vote, sue or even own property. A sufrage movement took place at the close of the Victorian Era. They had no choice about things that were already decided for them.

3. Middle Class.

These people weren't as rich as noble. Women were expected to study, help in the family business and get married with a noble men. At the close of the Victorian era some women were self-employed by being a nurse, writer...The Upper Working Class tried a variety of jobs as governess, housekeeper or schoolmistress. Lower Working Class included professions like tradeswoman who sold their own goods and service to the people of their village or cleaned or worked as housekeepers to the Upper Middle Class.

4. Higher Class.

Women enjoyed a life of luxuries. They spent most of their time attending tea parties and horseback riding. They had several attendants to look after them. They were expected to be highly educated. Their main job was to instruct the servants on what to do and to groom younger girls of nobility to become women.

5. Divorce and legal discrimination.

Women's rights as autonomous persons would not be fully accomplished until well into the 20th century. Women lost the rights to the property they brought into the marriage, even following divorce. Domestic violence towards wives was given increasing attention by social and legal reformers as the 19th century continued. Concerning marriage laws and the legal rights of women to divorce and gain custody of children.

6. Women in the workforce.

Working-class employment:Working-class women often had occupations to make ends meet, and to ensure family income in the event that a husband became sick, injured, or died. Throughout this era, some women were employed in heavy industry.Women couldn't expect to be paid the same as a man.Middle-class employment: Women were accepted in some jobs, such as cashiers, secretaries, cook, school teacher, governess, nurses, doctors...

7. Education.

Women were mostly expected to marry and carry out household and motherly duties rather than seek formal education. Even, women who were not successful in finding husbands were generally expected to stay uneducated. The outlook for education-seeking women improve when girls' public schools were founded increasing educational opportunities for women's education and leading eventually to the development of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897.

8. Sexuality and morality.

The ideal Victorian woman was pure, chaste, refined and modest. This ideal was supported by etiquette and manners. The most extended etiquette was not to recognize the use of undergarments. Victorians considered the mention of women's undergarments in mixed company unacceptable. Women were expected to have sex with only one man, their husband. However, it was acceptable for men to have multiple partners in their life; some husbands have lengthy affaires with other women while their wives stayed with them because divorce was not an option.If a woman had sexual contact withanother man, she was seen as ''ruined'' or ''fallen''.Victorian literature and art was full of examples of women paying dearly for straying from moral expectations. Adulteresses met tragic ends in novels.

9. Women's rights.

Women in the Victorian Era could not vote and were treated very differently from men. For example, women could not own their property and could not divorce their husbands, because then they would have no chance of acceptance in society. Education and job training was considered useless and most Victorians believed that women shouldn't have legal rights.

10. Prostitution

There were actually more brothels than there were schools. It is estimated that 80.000 women were working as prostitutes in London, this reveals how sex-obsessed the culture truly. Prostitutes were called fallen women, because they were seen as an example of what fine, upstanding women in society should never become. However it was legal and even encouraged in many circles.

http://www.victorian-era.org/roles-of-women-in-the-victorian-era.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era https://listverse.com/2016/05/03/10-facts-about-prostitution-in-the-victorian-era/ http://victorianerawomen.blogspot.com.es/ https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century

www.genial.ly

Bibliography