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Info on the Victorian Movement and Woman's Suffrage and how they affected woman?
I need to know what womans life was like before these 2 movemements and how their lives were changed afterwards. Please include sources!
Thanks so much in advance
Women's lives would vary considerably depending on their social status. Generally, most women expected to marry, and it was expected that wives would obey their husbands. In the early Victorian period, a married woman's property was considered to belong to her husband, but acts were pased by parliament which changed the law so a married woman's property and earnings were considered her own.
Upper class women would expect to stay at home until they married, and when they married would have overall responsibility for running the household, but would have servants to do most of the work. They would be expected to keep control of the household budget,, do the accounts, order meals, act as hostesses at dinner parties etc (the upper classes generally did a lot of entertaining).
Middle class girls would mostly expect to stay at home until marriage too, though some of the more independently-minded ones might devote themselves to social reform or even to a career. Florence Nightingale would be one of the most famouse example. For women who hd to work, teaching was one of the most respectable options, and the reforms of Florence Nightingale made nursing a respectable job. During the later part of the 19th century, the invention of the typewriter led to many more women being employed in offices, since they were found to make more efficient typists than men. and a few women managed to embark on careers in law or medicine.
Working class women would be out at work from an early age. Huge numbers of women worked in domestic service, or in factories, or they did sewing or laundry work, or worked in shops. The Post office employed women as postmisitresses and sub-postmistresses. It was also possible for bright working class girls to become teachers, they could become pupil teachers at thirteen, and after a five year apprenticeship would be considered full teachers.
Most women who worked expected to give up work when they maarried, but some working class women had to continue working because they needed the money. Housework wass much harder in those days because of the lack of labour saving devices, and because houses got dirty very quickly form the smoke from fires and oil lamps and candles (though better off people would be beginning to use gas or electricity in the late 1800s).
Anyone who could afford it kept servants. Agatha Christie, who was born in 1890, wrote about the work done by the servants in their household when she was young:
'Servanmts did an incredible amount of work. Jane cooked five-course dinners for seven or eight people as a matter of daily routine. For grand dinner parties of twelve or more, each course contained alternatives - two soups, two fish courses etc. The housemaid cleaned about forty silver photograph frames and toilet silver ad lib, took in and empited a 'hip bath' (we had a bathroom but my mother considered it a revolting idea to use a bath others had used), brought hot water to bedrooms four times a day, lit bedroom fires in winter, and mended linen etc every afternoon. The parlourmaid cleaned incredible amounts of silver and washed glasses with loving care in a papier-mache bown, besides providing perfect waiting at table.
In spite of these arduous duties servants were, I think, actively happy, mainly because they knew they were appreciated - as experts doing expert work. As such, they had that mysterious thing, prestige, they looked down with scorn on shop assistants and their like.
Servants, of course, were not a particular luxury - it was not a case of only the rich having them,the only difference was that the rich had more. They had butlers and footmen and housemaid and parlourmaids and between-maids and kitchen maids and so on. As you descended the stages of affluence you arrived at what was described as 'the girl' (a maid of all work).'
Over a million women worked as domestic servants at the turn of the last century, it was a very common form of employment for women.
The campaign for women's suffrage did not affect all women, a great many women were not interested in it, and it didn't really havemuch affect on their lives. Most women looked forward to getting married and having families, and were not that bothered about women's rights. Agatha Christie writes, on the subject of what she thought about the future when she was yong;
'In fact I only contemplated one thing - a happy marriage. About that I had complete self-assurance - as all my friends did. We were conscious of all the happiness that awaited us. We looked forward to love, to being looked after,cherished and admired, and we intended to get our own way about the things that were important to us while at the same time putting our husband's life, career and success before all, as was our proud duty. We didn't need pep pills or sedatives, we had belief and joy in life. We had our own personal disappointments - moments of unhappiness - but on the whole life was fun.'
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