Literature
In order to understand the role of women in Victoria’s England, it would be of interest to study the role of women during the Roman Empire. Why this is important, is because, there is a lot of similarities in the way England was ruled in comparison to Rome. The Roman society was undoubtedly dominated by men, and this is evident by the names of great leaders such as Julius Caesar, and Augustus. The Roman Catholic Church too had a huge role to play in the social and cultural life of the people of Rome. Despite evidences drawn from Roman history, the role of women has not elicited much response, because Roman society was patriarchal by nature. Romans were an advanced lot during the early days of Julius Caesar and it reflected in their architecture, arts, trade and sports. Women hardly had any public life. They were only to be a part of the family, and care for their husbands and children. Quite sadly, Roman women were not given this privilege of place in Roman society. Her duties included caring and loving her husband, rearing children and looking after their well-being, and running the household. They never had a prominent position in public life and had to live in the shadow of her husband.
The Rise of Europe between 1500 and 1850 was largely accounted for by the growth of European nations which shared their borders with the Atlantic and, in particular, by those that engaged in colonialism and transoceanic trade. Europe was the gateway to the Americas for the Asian traders, and vica-versa. As trade and industries grew, the demands for labor went up, and as men were not enough to sustain the growth of industries and trade, women benefited from the inadequacy. Women in the Victorian era began to work, and played a role in influencing changes in legislation to allow them the vote and involve in other public and private activities. In America, the movement in favour of women was quite strong and they worked on several fronts that were not just focused on women’s rights. Some of these included the issue of temperance that needed to be addressed accordingly, as a fact that several men were turning to the bottle to alleviate their pain and troubles. Hull House and the Women’s Christian temperance Union worked extremely hard to alleviate the problems that arose from lack of temperance, and this is very much reflected in the social conditions of the time. It is important to focus on the good work of the Christian temperance union as an example where women threw off the shackles and chains of oppression at home and went out into the open to help and assist those who required them. This reflected in the way women operated soup kitchens and other outlets for the needy. In addition to this, they continued to work alongside other women who were themselves quite unfortunate (Flexner, 1959, p 91). Abrams (2001) in Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain says that during Queen Victoria’s reign, a woman's place was considered to be at home, “as domesticity and motherhood were more than sufficient for the emotional fulfilment of women.” There was not much importance given to education, and in the 1800s, a woman could be proud if her child reached the age to be in primary school. Women faced multiculturalism, and this was the root cause for inequality and suppression of women. Faced with such disparity, women were kept away from the public places and positions during this phase, but the advent of the nineteenth century saw charitable missions extend the role of women in service, and Victorian women emerged as a potent political force. Most European countries were under the power of the monarchy. With the rise of political institutions, the power of the monarchy was constrained along with their supporters. The political institutions began to show their strength to control the power of the monarchy, and prerogatives emerged when groups that favoured change, that is commercial interests outside the royal circle, became sufficiently powerful politically.
It was in the nineteenth century that England transformed herself. With her focus on trade and industrialization, Britain played a key role in maintaining a balance of power in Europe so that no single European country could dominate others in the region or become a force there. In the industrial phase (1800-1890), the engine of global expansion was the industrial capital of Western Europe. A particularly important feature of this phase of capitalist development was a change in the dominant economic discourse from protectionism to free trade and competition. The victory of the manufacturing class over the landowners and mercantile bourgeoisie in repealing restrictive trade practices, such as the corn laws in Britain (which meant lower costs of production), marked the victory of the free traders.
As industrialization gained ascendency over agriculture, more and more people from small towns and villages began to move to the cities in search of jobs. Women too began to take part in working outside their home and contributing to their family income. The transformation of Britain, because of its fast-paced industrialization, had a profound effect on women, and their causes. Women could participate in different fields, an as cities grew, and urbanization flourished, the new style of living where roles for men and women were perceived. There was a perceived change in the perception of working, as the notion that women in the private sphere of the home and hearth, and men in the public sphere of business, politics and sociability, came to influence the choices of the masses. All this happened during Queen Victoria’s reign, and she became the icon of late-19th-century middle-class.
The Suffrage movement worked hard to get the vote for women even in periods when this was considered to be practically impossible. The movement focused on the injustice of not granting women the vote on various factors, amongst them one can say that women were kept in the house and were not allowed to go out and have their say, something that was always left to men to do. The Suffragettes argued that women had as much right as men to be the shapers of their own destiny and this sort of injustice could not continue going on without any resistance. They argued that the vote was a basic expression of a human right and as such had to be granted to women on this basis. Several critics are very circumspect in their description of this campaign focusing on several individuals, most of all the Pankhurst sisters who worked tirelessly for the vote to come to women (Bartley, 2002, p 176).
Although there was initially substantial opposition from the establishment against the vote for women this mellowed over the years and was eventually overcome. The main arguments against the vote for women in this regard were that the woman’s place was in the home and there was nothing much else that she should be doing, least of all gets involved in politics. Naturally enough men did not want women meddling into their affairs and this led to the suffragettes being totally excluded from any sort of progress in their affairs. However, at the end, the women managed to win the right to vote and this was actually much more than enough for them as Woloch describes quite pertinently (Woloch, 2002, p 122).
Some individuals worked extremely hard for women to have their own say on fertility issues and also on contraception. More often than not, men did not care or give a hoot if their wives or partners became pregnant for several times and the women would have to face the consequences of their husband’s actions. These women petitioned Congress to pass a bill legalizing birth control and although she was initially unsuccessful, she never gave up putting pressure to make this happen and with the added campaign for women’s rights taking a front seat, everything became much clearer. Eventually, the second World War began changing things for women who began to be more assertive on their rights and they could also lay claim to several achievements, most of all the fact that they were serving in the Armed Forces and could be said to be equal to men on that score. This brought about a major upsurge in the interest of female birth control issues and family planning that was given a front seat in this regard and that continued to dominate affairs until the 1960’s when the pill was introduced. Legal and safe birth control was important for women then and now as it enables them to plan their own life and not get tied down to multiple issues such as lots of children that they cannot support financially.
The Second World War brought a sea change in the way women were perceived and the way they managed to portray themselves. Obviously they were already emboldened by getting the vote and this made them feel quite important to society and there were several who wished to contribute to the war effort. This was made possible as large factories were operating and had been built to accommodate the requirements of the American war effort and with the large bulk of the men away fighting; it was left to the women to man the factories with their own power (Markoff, p 87). This resulted in several thousands of women taking on men’s jobs in these factories that also resulted in them being taken away from their homes. This obviously required much more effort for women to balance their work life responsibilities but they managed it pretty well and in fact after the war, the campaign for the woman’s right to work and have a family intensified with the eventual positive results (Woloch, 2002, p 76).
The Great depression also saw the heroism of women in the context that they gave their husbands and children total support even in the bleak context of absolute and wretched failure. This was reflected in the fact that women had to consistently face hunger and severe hardship but they rose to the occasion with flying colors. Every aspect of their being was affected by the Depression but they managed to overcome it with heroism and the result was that the standing of women rose substantially both in their own communities and also on the world’s stage. After World War 2 when the whole rush of women working ended, there was a return to basic ideas about the family that put women further into the limelight as regards family and other issues. There was a conservative movement that continued to argue that the place of women was in the home and this gained currency and new ground largely due to the fact that women were now seen as the backbone of a new society once several men had died in the war. It was important that women continued to remain at home and bear children so that society could see an increase in the population that was a crucially important issue too. This obviously led to women adapting to the changes but it also led to others taking up the crusade for more liberalism and rights. This led to the rebellion of the 1960’s and the women’s protest movement that was quite a strong one and that gained several other rights such as the legalizing of contraception and a more relaxed view on drugs. All this created a stronger blueprint for women who could now assert their rights on a far greater spectrum than they did in the past and actually establish better their place in society (Dubois p 75-100).
Woloch believes that women can continue moving forward in society irrespective of quotas and other issues that may perhaps help but are an aberration in some cases. Women are also moving forward in a big way in areas such as higher education where they have managed to achieve an incredible sense of achievement with most graduates now being women (Lowry, p 77). Women brought an alternative approach to post secondary education after the Second World War due to their drive and zest for learning. The male dominated regime fell as women began instilling their ideas and trends into the classroom and with more and more lecturers joining the staff at top universities they also brought an alternative approach to teaching and instructing that differed considerably from the male approach (Flexner p 80-90).
Naturally this was not an easy process but a rather painful one that continued to influence education as decades went by and that today can be said to be part and parcel of the American school system.
Several authors argue that women have transformed the debate on higher education by instilling their values and have also infiltrated into male dominated professions that for centuries were completely a male prerogative. Women are now found in professions such as the medical, the legal, and architecture etc, where they bring a much needed alternative approach to issues that have perhaps been too closely adhered to by males. Working women in Victoria’s time were frequently involved in several issues since there was a conflict seen between their role in family life as well as their working life. It is also important to note that women improved their lot through sheer grit and determination, whilst there was the aspect of self-determination that was quite present in various ways (Lloyd, 1971, p 230).
The Victorian era which lasted from 1837-1901, was “characterised as the domestic age par excellence, epitomised by Queen Victoria,” says, Abrams (2001). This period was representative of women’s prominence, as femininity centred on family, motherhood and respectability. Victoria’s model of marital stability and domestic virtue was contagious, as common people began to practice forgiveness. She was a devoted queen, wife, and mother, and when Albert died in 1861, she abdicated her position in power and spent her time looking after her home and family.
Many of the first group of feminists were “active in the philanthropic movement, and it was from this group that demands for improvements in the position of women began to be made” Abrams (2001). This was in complete contrast to earlier practices where women had no say in public life. By 1900 women began to show inclination in involving in not just social movements, but in politics as well. Their idea of entering the public domain was not to seek public positions, but to get access to better education and employment opportunities for middle-class women, better working conditions and wages for these women, and the right to vote.
A Victorian woman’s status was influenced by her gender, her social class and wealth. A lot of them became extremely religious and were very intense in their religious beliefs. Even though Victorian women were good house-keepers, they did well in whatever work they did for a living. Stitching was one area where women found work, as many industries that came up, needed men and women dressed up for work.
Conclusion
The Victorian Age cannot be termed as the period of equality in any sense. Even though Victorian women did manage to break from the traditional men bastion of public obligations, only a small percentage of women really took up jobs. They were still considered to be homemakers and should only worry about her home and family. It was for this reason that most Victorian women, continued to remain house wives. They stayed at home and tended to their house and family. Much of the jobs these women did were either of a maid, nurse, teacher, or social worker. While farming seemed to have taken a back step, it still continued to support poultry and farming. A lot of Victorian women spent time working in farms.
Works cited
Abrams, L, (2001), Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain, Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/academicstaff/jonesc/jonesc_inde x/teaching/birth/wk11_victorian_britain_handout.pdf
Bartley, Paula. Emmeline Pankhurst. London: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-20651-0, Print.
DuBois, Ellen Carol. Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997) ISBN 0-300-06562-0
Flexner, Eleanor, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States, enlarged edition with Foreword by Ellen Fitzpatrick (1959, 1975; Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 1996) ISBN 0-674- 10653-9
Lloyd, Trevor, Suffragettes International: The Worldwide Campaign for Women's Rights (New York: American Heritage Press, 1971).
Lowry, D. (1997) 'White woman's' country: Ethel TawseJollie and the Making of White Rhodesia, Journal of Southern African Studies, 23(2), pp. 259–281.
Markoff, John. "Margins, Centers, and Democracy: The Paradigmatic History of Women's Suffrage," Signs (2003) 29#1 pp. 85–116 in JSTOR
Woloch A, (2004), The One vs. the Many: Minor Characters and the Space of the Protagonist in the Novel; Northeast Victorian Studies, Print
