Oppression of Women in Victorian Society

2178 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles during the Victorian era

How would you like it ladies if you were told that your only place in this world was in the home, or that as you were born a woman you were already given the career of marriage? There would be no way out of it, no hope of changing and becoming something new and exciting, you were stuck in this position and either you made the best of it or died trying to revolt. Women held no rights. They were forced to be robots, performing only for the men they had to seek marriage to. The only jobs that women were allowed to hold was that of motherhood, they were not allowed to speak unless spoken to and certainly were not expected to have personal opinion. It was not until the start of the Women's Liberation Movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's that the whole outlook on women changed. If it wasn't for women such as: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriet Tubman women would be living in a world revolving only around men. In this paper I am not going to be glorifying the heroes that I hold true to my womanhood, though I would like to, but I will be explaining and making known the mental torture a woman was put through during the Victorian Ages. A woman, during these times, was basically on earth for the following reasons: cleaning, cooking and bringing pleasure to their husbands. The guidelines of how to treat a woman were probably the same as the ones used on how to treat a servant or animal. In the writing of this paper it is important that I stress and teach the treatment of women during these times, and let you the reader understand the role they played. I have read two different novels that took place within the times I am describing and have learned about two diverse characters, they will give a background and p... ... middle of paper ... ... is always some desire urging her forward, always some convention holding her back (76-77). This passage basically describes everything about this character. She understands the society she is in, but is unwilling to do anything about it. In that passage she is talking of herself, she was forced into marriage and now lives a life she wishes she never took in the first place. In the end she takes her life to exit out of the pain she has caused herself. Emma and Jane are diverse in many ways. Jane was the strong and passionate character, while Emma was the poster girl of a Victorian woman. Each reacted in a different way to their environments. I have given you background information and specific example of women depicted during these times. Which one would you be more like? Would you have followed the pack or set forth a new path? That is the ultimate question.

Show More
Related

  • Salem Witch Trials: Women’s Rights

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    During this time period women were not respected at all and were belittled by all med in their lives. Even though men don’t appreciate what women they still did as they were told. In particular, “Women have an astoundingly long list of responsibilities and duties – th...

    Read More

  • Miss Representation Summary

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women were only second-class citizens. They were supposed to stay home cook, clean, achieve motherhood and please their husbands. The constitution did not allow women to vote until the 19th amendment in 1971 due to gender discrimination. Deeper in the chapter it discusses the glass ceiling. Women by law have equal opportunities, but most business owners, which are men, will not even take them serious. Women also encounter sexual harassment and some men expect them to do certain things in order for them to succeed in that particular workplace. The society did not allow women to pursue a real education or get a real job. Women have always been the submissive person by default, and men have always been the stronger one, and the protector. Since the dawn of time, the world has seen a woman as a trophy for a man’s arm and a sexual desire for a man’s

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Speech

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before Elizabeth Cady Stanton had any impact and attempts to start speeches like her “the solitude to self” speech or her speeches at Seneca Falls. Most women were treated as a cook and a maid, they stayed home to take care of the children. They were to be bossed around by their husband. It was actually better off if a woman was single or widowed. Also, all women were not allowed to vote. Women had a say in typically nothing that is until Elizabeth finally took a stand.

    Read More

  • Cult of True Womanhood: Women's Suffrage

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1840’s, most of American women were beginning to become agitated by the morals and values that were expected of womanhood. “Historians have named this the ’Cult of True Womanhood’: that is, the idea that the only ‘true’ woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family” (History.com). Voting was only the right of men, but women were on the brink to let their voices be heard. Women pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wrote eleven resolutions in The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments; this historical document demanded abolishment of any laws that authorized unequal treatment of women and to allow for passage of a suffrage amendment.

    Read More

  • Sarah and Angelina Grimké

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.

    Read More

  • Women, Crime, and Custody in Victorian England by Lucia Zedner

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    Upon hearing the term, “The Victorian Woman,” it is likely that one’s mind conjures up an image of a good and virtuous woman whose life revolved around the domestic sphere of the home and family, and who demonstrated a complete devotion to impeccable etiquette as well as to a strong moral system. It is certainly true that during Victorian England the ideal female was invested in her role as a wife and a mother, and demonstrated moral stability and asexuality with an influence that acted as her family’s shield to the intrusions of industrial life. Yet despite the prevalence of such upstanding women in society, needless to say not all women lived up to such a high level of moral aptitude. Thus, we must beg the question, what became of the women who fell far short from such a standard? What became of the women who fell from this pedestal of the ideal Victorian woman, and by way of drunkenness, criminality, or misconduct became the negation of this Victorian ideal of femininity?

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Thesis

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the

    Read More

  • Womanhood In The 19th Century

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many middle class and elite women followed the same thinking pattern of most men in the nineteenth century that women should focus on preserving their morality, improving society, and being domestic subservient wives (lecture). This ideal of true womanhood directly conflicted with working class women’s definition of womanhood and the changing work patterns in the United States. Because middle class and elite woman did not view working women as “true women,” these women often ostracized working class women, which caused tension and increased class divisions (lecture). Additionally, this class rift between women most likely contributed to the slow progress of the women’s rights movement that began in the later half of the nineteenth century. As men were reluctant to accept the shifting definitions of womanhood, many middle class and elite women were also hesitant to accept these changes and began to relate to lower class women in a more hostile

    Read More

  • In Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall'

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    But in reality, a male narrator gives a certain sense of understanding to the male audience and society’s understand of the male and females roles and responsibilities in a marriage. Just as men were expected to cut the grass, take out the trash, pay the bills and maintain the household as a whole, women were expected to cook, clean, nurture the children, and be a loving and submissive wife to their husband. The only stipulation required for this exchange of power was to establish a mutual love. In the Victorian age love was all it took for a man to take or alter a woman’s livelihood and

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Little House on the Prairie

    2315 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...

    Read More

  • Mistreatment Of Women In The Victorian Era Essay

    2196 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Mistreatment of Women During the Victorian Era “The day may be approaching when the whole world will recognize woman as the equal of man.” (Susan B. Anthony) The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as not being able to control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well.

    Read More

  • Women of the Nineteenth Century: Sarah Stickney Ellis

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.

    Read More

  • Women's Issues in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Souls Belated by Edith Wharton

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...

    Read More

  • The Evolution of the Role of Women in British and American Literature

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.

    Read More

  • The Fight for Women's Rights

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have been humiliated in so many ways such as making their own decisions and the same equal rights as men. Women had no authority whatsoever within their family or outside of it. Their role was just to maintain the house, to take care of the children and to cook for the family. Some of them were very ‘fortunate’ to have semi suitable occupations, such as teachers, nurses, jewelry makers or office assistants. Even though their wages were very limited, they wanted to work to show somewhat their independency. In the 1800’s, women had a very rough time in society. They were not allowed to vote or voice their opinion. They had to stand by and watch men decide on their own personal rights. Men didn’t believe that women were capable of making complicated decisions and that it should be left up to the men to decide on everything. Men didn’t believe that women were intelligent enough to do anything. They thought that women were meant to be at home education their sons to be more knowledge and their daughters to be housewives. Their lives were very rough since they had no rights. It was hard for women to have any type of education since no schools would accept women students. They weren’t allowe...

    Read More

More about Oppression of Women in Victorian Society

Open Document