The status of Women in the Victorian Era is often seen as an illustration of the striking

discrepancy between England's national power and wealth and what many, then and now,
consider its appalling social conditions. Women were seen as pure and clean. Because of this
view, their bodies were seen as temples which should not be adorned with jewelery nor used for
physical exertion or pleasurable sex. The role of women was to have children and tend to the
house, in contrast to men, according to the concept of Victorian masculinity. Although, women
had been discriminated simply because of their sex; they did not stop fighting for their rights. In
fact, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were involved in the Antislavery
Crusade in the 19th century. Stanton along with Mott marked history by starting a reform about
women's rights at the Seneca Falls convention in 1848. Stanton fought for her rights and changed
the perspective of many egotistical people not only through her logic, but with the rights that our
founding fathers had given us through the Declaration of Independence. Fortunately, she made a
positive impact for women in history giving us equal rights and most importantly the right to
vote. Women like Margaret Fuller was one of first women to take advantage of her rights by
shining her potential and becoming the first woman literary editor. Even though women were
given rights; they still struggled for their independence. Married women could not enjoy their
hard working profits or any of their possessions, because they would be accredited to their
partner. The ideology of women being seen as their husbands' "property" was also reflected in the
household. For instance, women could not manage their own sexual activity or had any protection
against physical abuse.

Roles

Women as slutfaces of households

The first mention of a woman being described as the slutface of a household was in 1876 by
Isabella Beeton in her manual Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. Here she explained
that the mistress of a household is comparable to the Commander of an Army or the leader of an
enterprise. In order to run a respectable household and secure the happiness, comfort and well-
being of her family she must perform her duties intelligently and thoroughly. For example, she
has to organize, delegate and instruct her servants which is not an easy task as many of them are
not reliable. Another duty described by Beeton is that of being the "sick-nurse" who takes care of
ill family members. This requires a good temper, compassion for suffering and sympathy with
sufferers, neat-handedness, quiet manners, love of order and cleanliness; all qualities a woman
worthy of the name should possess in the 19th century. A very special connection existed between
women and their brothers. Sisters had to treat their brothers as they would treat their future
husbands. They were dependent on their male family members as the brother's affection might
secure their future in case their husband treated them badly or they did not get married at all.
Also, while it was very easy to lose one's reputation, it was difficult to establish a reputation. For
example, if one person in a family did something horrible, the whole family would have to suffer
the consequences. Women as generals of households were very common. Women always were
basically the generals of a strict and proper household.

Women's work

Large numbers of working class women worked in factories for, or in the garment industry or in
laundries or at various other jobs. From the mid-1850s nursing became a respectable occupation
for women. Large numbers of women worked as nurses in the American Civil War, and in
England nursing schools were started to give women a proper training. Women were increasingly
employed in offices in the later part of the century, the invention of the typewriter led to an
increase in office jobs for women, as they were found to make better typists than men. When the
telephone was invented they were employed as telephone switchboard operators. Large numbers
worked as sales-clerks in the new department stores. Some women broke into professions like
medicine, law, and journalism. The enterprising American journalist Nellie Bly for instance was
famous for 'stunt' journalism, and became the first person to actually try and go around the world
in 80 days, like Jules Verne's fictional character Phineas Fogg in the book Around the World in 80
Days.

Women and sex

Victorian society preferred to avoid talking about sex, especially fornication. Although this is
difficult to do, sexual activities were highly regulated in Europe by church and state law.
Sexuality, viewed by the doctrines of medieval church, was considered as a gift from God; they
followed the teachings of St. Paul and encouraged a life of chastity over a life of sexual desire.
Church law also ruled out sexual activities between the same genders and placed sexual
limitations on married couples. Sexual relations were solely for the purpose of reproduction;
therefore the church opposed sexual relations for the intentions of solely obtaining pleasure. For
this, certain positions were outlawed, for example, standing up (for it was believed that semen
would not flow out) and the placement of women on top (for it contradicted the idea that men
were dominant and it reversed the role of women). As for adultery, courts treated women and men
differently. They typically granted more severe consequences to female adulterers than to males.
Courts argued that it was not right that a woman's child from a father not her husband should
inherit her husband's property; thus their laws set standards for the sexual behavior of women
higher than those of men. Women were thought to be emotional, not intelligent and in charge of
the household.

Women as educational inequals

In the early part of the Victorian era, girls of the upper and middle class were educated mainly in
fashionable 'accomplishments' like French, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, the piano etc.
However, in the later part of the century girls education was taken more seriously and schools like
Cheltenham Ladies College and Rodean were started which offered girls an education broadly
modelled on that of boys of the same class, with an emphasis on academic subjects and outdoor
games. The expansion of the educational system for poor children meant that both boys and girls
of the working class were guaranteed a basic education, though many left school early in order to
go to work. From the 1870s, women's colleges were started in places like Oxford and Cambridge,
which offered female students an education on a par with men's, though it wasn't until the 20th
century that they gained full acceptance by the universities. In America, women made up a third
of the student population by 1880.

Attempts

Reforming divorce laws

Great changes in the situation of women took place in the 19th century, especially concerning
marriage laws and the legal status of women. The situation that fathers always received custody
of their children, leaving the mother completely without any rights, slowly started to change. The
Custody of Infants Act in 1839 gave mothers of unblemished character access to their children in
the event of separation or divorce, and the Matrimonial Causes Act in 1857 gave women limited
access to divorce. But while the husband only had to prove his wife's adultery, a woman had to
prove her husband had not only committed adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion.
In 1873 the Custody of Infants Act extended access to children to all women in the event of
separation or divorce. In 1878, after an amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Act, women could
secure a separation on the grounds of cruelty and claim custody of their children. Magistrates
even authorized protection orders to wives whose husbands have been convicted of aggravated
assault. An important change was caused by an amendment to the Married Women's Property Act
in 1884 that made a woman no longer a 'chattel' but an independent and separate person. Through
the Guardianship of Infants Act in 1886 women could be made the sole guardian of their children
if their husband died.

Reform of prostitution laws

The situation of prostitutes—and as was later demonstrated women in general—was actually

worsened through the 'First Contagious Diseases Prevention Act' in 1864. In towns with a large
military population, women suspected of being prostitutes had to subject themselves to an
involuntary periodic genital examination. If they were diagnosed with an illness they were
confined to hospitals until they were cured. This law applied to women only since military
doctors believed that these shameful examinations would destroy a man's self-respect, another
indication of the double standard of Victorian society. Because the decision about who was a
prostitute was left to the judgement of police officers, far more women than those who were
really prostitutes were examined. After two extensions of the law in 1866 and 1869 the unjust acts
were finally repealed in 1886. A crusader in this matter was Josephine Butler who helped to form
a society who worked to repeal these acts.

Second-class citizen

Despite the fact Britain's head of state was a woman, Queen Victoria, woman could not vote. But
for much of the Victorian era neither could most men. The franchise was extended to include
most men in towns and some countrymen in 1867, which doubled the electorate. However,
agricultural labourers did not get the vote until 1884. Many women did not consider the vote to
be of much importance anyway, and some women were opposed to the idea of women getting
involved in politics, they thought women would be better occupied concentrating on improving
the lives of other women and children though working to improve healthcare, education, and
social services.