What was the Status of women in 1850?

In this Essay I will write about the five points I have been studying.

I will comment on what I think was increasing women’s movement in the late 19th century. My big points will be Education, Political participation, Social reform (Laws) and Economics (Work). I think this question wants us to think about why did the women want freedom in the late 19th century? Why not start these movements centuries back? I will answer all these questions in my essay. I will start by writing about the status of women in 1850.

Women had no legal status. A married woman’s earnings belonged to her husband. All property and goods belonged to the husband, as were the children. Poor people might only earn a few sticks of furniture but this affected women as well because income support was paid to the man, which meant he’d go down the pub and waste it.

Women could not vote in general elections or local elections and could not stand as MP’s. Men made all political decisions on behalf of the women and before the 1832 reform act only rich landowners could vote. Most of the men agreed with an MP called Charles James Fox. He said “women would simply vote as their husbands or fathers told them so it is not worth it giving them the vote.”

Middle class were seen as the child bearer and were allowed no other job. Servants would do all the housework. Middle class girls had a very standard education, usually given at home by a ‘governess’. The governess taught reading, writing, arithmetic with some history and a foreign language.

Working class women worked in mines, factories, and mills and on the land. The women were paid less than the men.

Education

The feminists saw education as the key to unlock the world of politics. In the 1860’s the majority of women from any social class generally lacked an education.

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Working class women worked in mines, factories, and mills and on the land. The women were paid less than the men.

Education

The feminists saw education as the key to unlock the world of politics. In the 1860’s the majority of women from any social class generally lacked an education.

Until 1870 some working class girls attended factory or workhouse schools. The rest, if educated at all, went to small fee paying schools run by older women, or to schools set up by religious foundations. After 1870 State schools were introduced and by 1918 school was compulsory for all children up to the age of 13. By the end by of the 19th century 97% of all children could read and write. But the curriculum often said the ‘staying at home’ rather than the freedom of working class girls concentrating on subjects such as cookery, needlework and housewifery.

In the mid 19th century girls were educated at home by a governess. They were educated to be wives and mothers of men from the same social class. By the beginning of the First World War this had changed to some extent because a number of few schools had opened.

1848-Queens College, London was opened by F.D. Maurice to train governesses.

1849- Bedford College was opened.

1876- Newnham College was opened.

1878- London University admitted female students and awarded them full degree status.

These changes were not ‘revolutionary’ but they did not change Victorian attitudes towards the education of women. Most people still thought that women did not have the intellectual capacity to cope with a high level of study.

Work & Economics

Domestic Service continued to be the most common occupation (about 1 million) women, 1 in 3 women being domestic servants at some time in their lives. The Textile Industry was the second biggest employer of women (Around 520,000 in textiles, 380,000 in the clothing industry) although this was largely in northern England and Scotland.

Elsewhere women were employed in many unskilled and low paid jobs. There were a number of new developments in employment. For example the growth of banking and commerce resulted in women taking up secretarial and administrative roles. The invention of the typewriter in the 1860’s and the telephone resulted in the ‘white blouse’ worker. However, despite the advances, women’s jobs were still seen as menial and less important than men’s. This was reflected in their low rate of pay- about 65% of a male wage. The attitude that females were lower to males in the field of employment proved hard to break down.

By 1914, women had created a few inroads into a number of previously male dominated areas and had created some new professions. Florence Nightingale had made nursing a ‘desirable’ profession and her school for nursing established at St Thomas’s Hospital in London in 1860 attracted many middle class women. Women also gained the right to become doctors, architects, and factory and workhouse inspectors and to enter the Civil Service. However, the greatest number foolishly chose to become teachers.

The law, banking and the Stock Exchange all remained closed to women as professions. Until 1914 the sexual division of labour – men and women doing different jobs continued and although the war changed most of the women’s jobs dramatically, this did not last as most women returned to their traditional jobs when the men returned from the war.

Political participation & Social reform (Laws)

Women had few opportunities to take part in political affairs. Their participation was limited to local government. In 1869 the Municipal Corporations Act gave single women and widows who were ratepayers the right to vote for local councils and later in 1888 as part of the Local Government Act for county councils.

In 1870 as a result of the Education Act, women ratepayers could be elected to and vote on School Board elections (However when the local education authorities replaced school boards in 1902, when women were declared ineligible for election). From 1894 women could serve as Parish and District councillors and in 1900 married women were allowed to vote for London County Council.

The women’s Liberal Foundation was founded in 1886 and was a women only administration. This gave an opportunity for delegates to define party policy and look at the issues of education, housing and health. The Independent Labour founded in 1893 attracted large numbers of women activists. The Political Parties gave the feminists invaluable guidance in the field of politics.

In 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft wrote ‘A vindication of the rights of women’ with Strictures on political and moral subjects. She claimed women were being treated as objects not as human beings. In 1839 the Custody of Infants Act stated if the parents separated then children under 7 could live with their mothers. In 1870 and 1882 the Married Women’s Act had the combined effect of making it legal for women to keep their own property when married. In a test case in 1891 a wife was able to move out of the matrimonial home and live independently from her husband.

Thus by reading the following I have come to the conclusion that by the end of the 19th century the status of the married woman had improved to some degree. Wives were no longer seen as objects to be possessed by their husbands. On the other hand the attitude that the male was ‘head of the household’ was still very much in place.