THE CONDITION OF WOMEN IN THE VICTORIAN AGE.

The timeline of the Victorian Age in the context of English Literature roughly coincides with
the reign of Queen Victoria in Great Britain and its Empire. The Victorian Age dates from
1837 to 1901. During this era, Britain was transformed from a predominantly rural,
agricultural society into an urban, industrial one. Although this period is popularly known as
a time of prim, conservative moral values, the Victorians perceived their world as rapidly
changing. Religious faith was splintering into evangelical and even atheist beliefs. The
working class, women, and people of color were agitating for the right to vote and rule
themselves. Reformers fought for safe workplaces, sanitary reforms, and universal education.
Victorian literature reflects these values, debates, and cultural concerns. But as a matter of
fact, the early years of the Victorian Era was marked by extreme social inequality,
industrialization, child labor, exploitation of the working class, slave abuse, expanding gap
between the rich and the poor, and not even the bare minimum rights for women as a product
of deep rooted patriarchy. Women were not given the opportunity, or so to say, the privilege
to get hold of education and knowledge of the outside world like men . One critic once said "
a woman was inferior to man in all ways except the unique one that counted most [to a man]:
her femininity." Richard D. Altick stated, “a woman was inferior to a man in all ways except
the unique one that counted most [to a man]: her femininity.

It is ironic how during the Victorian Age, the reigning ruler was a woman herself, a woman
of power, dignity, values, morals, and military strengths, who was looked up to and admired
by the people, and yet the subjection of the women in the society was a complete
contradiction, as they were looked down upon, treated with less dignity, and were considered
inferior to men. Women were only expected to manage the life of " The household and the
kitchen " from the time they were born. During that era, the one main role taught to the
women from a young age was to marry and take care of their husband and children. They
were taught and instilled with the idea to become the angels in the house and to look after the
household, do house chores, take care and fulfil the needs and wants of her husband and other
family members, nurture children and maintain peace at home. A woman was not allowed to
have her own interests besides her husband's interests. A woman was not given the freedom
to express themselves or to voice their opinions without inhibitions. Patriarchy existed in the
society since time immemorial, and the Victorian Era was no exception. In the Victorian era,
women were seen, by the middle classes at least, as belonging to the domestic sphere, and
this stereotype required them to provide their husbands with a clean home, to put food on the
table, and to raise their children. The rights and privileges of Victorian women were limited,
and both single and married women had to live with hardships and disadvantages. Victorian
women were disadvantaged both financially and sexually, enduring inequalities within their
marriages and society. There were sharp distinctions between men's and women's rights
during this era; men were allotted more stability, financial status, and power over the
household and women.
Victorian men always looked for feminine qualities such as being naive and pure , if women
didn't require or stand up to this basic qualities then they were outed from the list of marriage
potential . In Charles Petrie’s article, “Victorian Women expected to be Idle and Ignorant,” he
explains exactly what the Victorian man was looking for: Innocence was what men
demanded from the girls and they must not only be innocent but also give the outlook
impression of being innocent. There was a term called " The Angel in the house " in the
Victorian Era. The term implies for the women who devoted their life to look after the
husband since marriage and raise the
children . "The Angel in the House" was a popular poem by Coventry Patmore, published in
1854. Following the publication of Patmore's poem, the term angel in the house came to be
used in reference to women who embodied the Victorian feminine ideal.

Very few women had the right to work and earn their own, independent income. Few
women were employed in industrial work such as coal mines and the steel industry, but they
were employed in less numbers and the source of their income were lesser than the male
workers working in the same field. They were not only financially exploited, but more often
than not, they were also sexually abused at the workplace by their employers. Women barely
had any legal rights during this era. They did not have the right to vote or freedom of
expression or the opportunity to voice their opinions. They were always under the direct
influence of a male figure throughout their lifetime, before marriage it was the father or
brother, after marriage it became the husband, and after the demise of the husband or during
old age, it was the son. After marriage, women lost all their property ownership to their
husband. The woman herself became a property of her husband. Her income, her materialistic
ownership, and even her own body became a possession of her husband. A wife had to take
consent from her husband before making any choices or taking any decisions, but it was not
the other way round. Women who had the courage to express themselves or voice their
opinions were subjected to marital abuse, as a result of which domestic violence was
prominent during this age. Even law did not outright violence by a
man against his wife; it imposed legal limits on the amount of force that was
granted. There was a term in Victorian era literature "fallen women" which describes woman
who had lost her innocence and purity before marriage. These women are outcasted by the
society and were outlisted from marriage potentials.

Women in the Victorian Age were bounded by strict rules inside and outside the household.
Inside the four walls of the house, it was either the father, the brother, the husband or the son
that controls and influences the choices, decisions, opinions and lifestyle of a woman.
Outside, it was the society and their stereotypical societal ideologies which affected and
manipulated the life of a woman. Women were constantly subjected to social scrutinies and
objectivism. They were taught to be the perfect daughter, sister, wife and mother. They were
taught to not voice themselves. If and when a woman tried to break this chain of stereotype,
she had to face abuse and exploitation. Novels like Jane Austen’s Emma, Charlotte Bronte’s
Villette and Jane Eyre, talks about the social
position and condition of women in the Victorian era.
 WORK CITATIONS

“The Victorian Period.” Eastern Connecticut State University,

www.easternct.edu/speichera/understanding-literary-history-all/the-victorian-period.html#:~:t
ext=The%20Victorian%20period%20of%20literature,into%20an%20urban%2C%20industria
l%20one.

“Women in the Victorian Era.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2022,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era.

Victorian Ideals,
www.mckendree.edu/academics/scholars/issue18/appell.htm#:~:text=Typically%2C%20wom
en%20were%20also%20not,a%20man%5D%3A%20her%20femininity.

“The Angel in the House.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2022,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angel_in_the_House.