The Role of Women in Victorian Britain

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THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN INTRODUCTION Nowadays the role of the women in our society is really important and it has always been an interesting topic to talk about. This essay is about the role of women in Victorian Britain. On the one hand, it will deal with many subjects such as the women and industrialization, family, paid work, education, popular literature and sexuality. On the other hand, it will deal with some thoughts of some authors at the beginning of the Victorian period. In the period of Victorian Britain, there already were different status between women; some of them were in a working class, others in the middle class and others were aristocrat women. Each one had a different role in their life, and it will be explained in the following section of this essay. WOMEN AND INDUSTRIALIZATION In this section the main subject is the industrialization. Queen Victoria tried to convert the nation from an agricultural into an industrial nation. The industrialization had a beneficial effect in the economic and social status of women, because the fact that they were earning money outside the home changed the relationship between husbands and wives. It was that marriage became a partnership; childcare or domestic work, for example, was being shared. It had also had a beneficial effect because women increased the power of decide for themselves. Industrialization created new jobs for women and children. WOMEN AND FAMILY It was said that women had experienced family life. Their main role was to be a perfect wife and a perfect mother. It was a difficult situation for many of them. For example, for Molly Hughes, who was reprimanding for wishing she was a boy. She said that her mother “did not give… [me]…a reason, but merely insisted that it was a splendid to be
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