Gender Roles By Chelsea, Sasolie, Matt & Diana in the Victorian Era

What is the “Victorian Era”?  The reign of Queen Victoria  Social, political, religious, artistic and literary movements flourished  Known as the “Second English Renaissance”  Marked the beginning of modern times

Males in the Victorian Era

Childhood

 Children rarely saw their parents  Nannies took care of the children  Both parents would punish children for misbehavior  Boys usually attended school, however conditions at schools were not good  Boys learned to become “gentlemen”

Adolescence

 After attending secondary schools, boys often continued schooling  Boys could receive apprenticeships and begin working  However, some boys joined gangs, though usually boys from the lower classes  Considered more as adults than children

Adulthood

Adulthood/Fatherhood  Men worked  Most men married and created a family  Responsible for providing income for the family  Time not spent working was spent at exclusively male clubs  Not much time spent home with family

Late Adulthood

 Children left home  Men retired from work  Spent time at the exclusively male clubs  Spent more time at home  For the most part, affairs all done

Females in the Victorian Era

Childhood

 Industrial Revolution led to increase in child labor  Working class children had little to no childhood  Development of “childhood innocence”  Modern concepts of Childhood and family adopted by many families (usually upper middle classes)  Did not experience “individual life” when they are permitted to play and learn, where idleness and amusement were permitted

Adolescence

 Began preparing for marriage, the most “acceptable” career  Must be “groomed”  Learns to sing, play an instrument and speak a little French or Italian  Must develop qualities of a young “gentlewomen”  innocent, virtuous, biddable, dutiful and ignorant of intellectual opinion.

Adulthood

 Most had careers in domestic services  Few job opportunities (ex: textile)  Paid significantly less than men  Commonly regarded as “second class”  Restricted Legal rights (ex: could not be legal guardian of child, or own land, no voting rights)  Duty was to bear large family and make sure household runs smoothly  Divorced women had no chance of being accepted by society again  Wealthy wives: reading, sewing, receiving guests, writing letters, watching over servants, dressing as her husband’s “trophy wife”  Should be “weak, delicate, fragile”  Many resort to Prostitution

Late Adulthood

 Children leave, so mostly take care of home and husband  Women should only be housewives  Main concern is family, motherhood, femininity  Many double-standards regarding views of men and women in society  Married Woman’s Property Act 1887  Queen Victoria- many men described her as a “mad, wicked folly” Others describe her as “Mother of the Nation”

Separate Spheres Women  Private Sphere  Home  Emergence of “feminism”  Victoria- Icon of class and femininity Men  Public Sphere  Business, politics, sociability  Controls women’s spheres  Carried out all major reforms

Wages of Men and Women Source:

Bibliography Davies, Andrew. "Youth gangs, masculinity and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford." Journal of Social History 32.2 (Winter 1998): 349(2). Academic OneFile. Gale. Franklin Public Library. 20 Nov "Gender Matters." The Victorian Web. 23 Dec University Scholars Program. 23 Nov Nelson, Claudia. "Deconstructing the paterfamilias: British magazines and the imagining of the maternal father, " The Journal of Men's Studies 11.3 (Spring 2003): 293(16). Academic OneFile. Gale. Franklin Public Library. 20 Nov "Victorian Life." History Mad. 31 Jan History Matters. 23 Nov

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