Women in the Nineteenth Century

Women in the Nineteenth Century

During the Victorian era women had very little rights. Very little freedom. Society’s expectations were very different from today’s expectations. Women were treated completely different than men.

According to author Helena Wojtczak, “the average working class wife was either pregnant or breast-feeding from wedding day to menopause,” bearing approximately eight pregnancies, and ultimately raising approximately five children. Also, working class women were expected to continue working throughout their entire pregnancy. In reference to pregnancy outside of marriage, Wojtczak notes that it was notably common for a working class woman to become pregnant out of wedlock, and due to the social stigma involved, and the possibility of unemployment, these women often chose to conceal their pregnancy.

By the mid nineteenth century, Abrams states that Victorian middle class women were giving birth to their children at home, and taking a more active role in the nursing of their infants, thereby reinforcing their prescribed roles as mothers. Though fairly rare in the middle class, unwed mothers-to-be were pressed into marrying the father, or sent away to give birth in secrecy, and give the child up for adoption (Wojtczak).

Being that birth control literature was illegal, it can be assumed that the upper class woman was not exempt from constant and continuous pregnancy. However, Wojtczak notes that upper class families had fewer children than their lower counterparts, which leads us to believe that the more educated had knowledge of how to avoid pregnancy. Also, pregnancy outside of marriage rarely occurred among this class because of close monitoring of its young ladies by chaperons (Wojtczak).

The law viewed women as a virtual nonentity, “She was strictly under her husband’s care and protection” (Ziemba), and therefore the law need not concern itself with her well-being. This legal consideration contributed heavily to the disparity in...