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Married women during Victorian times were considered to have the legal rights similar to children. They were not able to vote, hold bank accounts, sign contracts, or hold a professional position except that of a teacher. Husbands owned all money and property a woman brought to a marriage even if they divorced; and held sole custody of their children. Domestically and socially they were expected to act as “The Household General”, a term coined in 1861 by Isabella Beeton in her manual, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era) Women were expected to run their homes like streamlined machines. Social events were coordinated to promote her husband’s prestige and form new social and economic connections. They devoted much time tending to their husband’s and children’s physical and emotional needs, often with great personal sacrifice of self-interest and personal development. Queen Victoria did little to promote the advancement of women during this time. There were however influential Victorian English writers, for example, John Stuart Mill, Lord Tennyson and Thomas Carlyle, who acknowledged the plight of women and wrote in order to promote awareness and to perhaps initiate reform.
Of the three aforementioned writers, Mill is the most vocal on the subject of equality for women. In 1869 John Stuart Mill wrote The Subjection of Women. Read in historical context, this work is considered radical. Mill’s focus tends to be on the matter of principal rather than working towards active reform. He rejects sexual inequality in both domestic and social contexts. He wrote, “That the principal which regulates the existing social relationships between the two sexes—the legal su...
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...rives the point home; pointing out the deficiencies in human rights and calling for reform. It would be safe to assume that Carlyle was influenced by his wife, who was active in speaking for women’s rights.
In conclusion, all three of these Victorian writers defend the rights of men and women, each using their own unique style to drive their message. All with very different backgrounds, these gentlemen were progressive and unafraid to speak out against the status quo.
Works Cited
"John Stuart Mill: The Subjection of Women." The Constitution Society. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. .
Damrosch, David, and Kevin J.H. Dettmar. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Vol. 2B. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.
"Women in the Victorian Era." Wikipedia. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. .