Woman in Victorian Era

Married Woman's Property Act 1887 In 1887 the Married Woman's Property Act gave women rights to own her own property. Previously her property, frequently inherited from her family, belonged to her husband on marriage.

SOCIAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLASSES OF WOMAN  A wealthy wife was supposed to spend her time Reading, sewing, receiving guests, going visiting, Letter writing, seeing to the servants and dressing for the part as her husband’s social representative.

The average poor mill worker could only afford the very inferior stuff, for example rancid bacon, tired vegetables, green potatoes, tough old stringy meat, tainted bread, porridge, cheese, herrings or kippers.

Mistresses for men : Even in high places Victorian men kept mistresses, but they still expected their wives or mistresses to be faithful whatever their own misdemeanours. If a women took a lover it was not made public. If it did become public knowledge she would be cut by society.

A Woman's Qualities The accepted reasoning was that the career for women was marriage. To get ready for courtship and marriage a girl was groomed like a racehorse. In addition to being able to sing, play an instrument and speak a little French or Italian, the qualities a young Victorian gentlewoman needed, were to be innocent, virtuous, biddable, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion.

Mistresses for Men Even in high places Victorian men kept mistresses, but they still expected their wives or mistresses to be faithful whatever their own misdemeanours. If a women took a lover it was not made public. If it did become public knowledge she would be cut by society. But men could amble along to one of their gentleman's clubs and always find a warm welcome.

Reasons for Oppression One of the main values that necessitated all of this arduous labour in order to simply become educated was that, people feared that the social system would break down if women were allowed to be educated. They worried that women would cease to fulfill their traditional roles if they received a higher education.

Charlotte Bronte’s works: Napoleon and the Spectre" (1833): Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846) ["Edited by Currer Bell] (as Currer Bell). –(U. of Pennsylvania) Jane Eyre: An Autobiography (1847) (as Currer Bell). Shirley: A Tale (1849) (as Currer Bell). Villette (1853) The Professor: A Tale (1857) The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories, ed. C. K. Shorter and E. W. Hatfield (1925) Legends of Angria: Compiled from the Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë, ed. W. Gérin (1971).

While existing social mores change as time passes, an underlying social tendency to oppress women remains. Despite the progress women have made towards equal opportunities in education, the bias in favour of men has not been erased. Women must continue to fight to receive the education they deserve.

Some of Elizabeth Gaskell's Works : Cranford (1853) Mary Barton (1848) Ruth (1853) North and South (1855) The life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) Wives and Daughters (1866) Curious, If true The Grey Woman and other Tales An accursed race The Athenaeum rated Gaskell as "if not the most popular, with small question, the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists."