19th Century Women

As one can possibly imagine, nineteenth century women were far from the images of women in the new millennium of today. Most women during this era were wives, mothers, homemakers. The popular image of women from that era were that they were “Gentile”, “Delicate”, and “Innocent” to the wisdoms and ways of the world and politics. They didn’t have the right to vote, or even make financial or medical decisions for themselves, if they were married then those matter were left to their husbands. There no career women, or single mothers. The family was a unit and most young women were married by the time they were in their 20s. If a woman found herself unmarried, she was pitied and known as a “spinster” and most often there was great effort for her to live a “respectable life”, either with her parents or other family. If she lived alone, she worked most often as a nurse or teacher, because there weren’t many career options for women back then however they were legally more independent because they could own property, pay taxes, and vote locally.

The middle class was more prevalent with the induction of the industrial age because a lot of husbands were earning salaries and so women were the keepers of the home. They left all family decisions, politics and policies to their husbands and instead pursued light interests in the arts and music, and were the keepers of the families spiritual and home wellbeing. A quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Princess” best describes the scenario, “Man for the field, woman for the hearth, man for the sword and for the needle she; man with the head and woman with the heart, man to command and woman to obey; all else confusion.”

Women were fragile creatures, with questionable sensibilities. Although motherhood was a treasured role, pregnancy was seen as the bane of a woman’s existence and the menstrual cycle was treated like a serious illness. Their clothing was constrictive and physically uncomfortable. Corsets and long undergarments were worn and a lot of these clothing were so uncomfortable that many women suffered from spinal injuries,