VICTORIAN WOMAN vs MODERN WOMAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Queen Victoria - the symbol of the British Empire

3. Victorian era

4. Victorian woman

5. Women - in the fight for equal rights

6. Modern woman

7. Conclusions: Victorian woman vs modern woman

8. Bibliography

Nobody can deny that throughout the human history women have had a spectacular influence upon

any changes that occured within society. Although they live in a men-dominated world, they have

always been in the heart of the events.

Through this work, I am trying to unveil woman’s profile by taking into account two opposing

portraits, corresponding to two different eras: the Victorian era and the modern one. For this purpose, I

divided my work into six chapters, gradually following the transition from the obedient Victorian

woman to the independent modern woman. I also included an introduction, to explain the reason for

choosing this topic and a bibliography to mention the books that provided me not only the needed

information, but also a proper approach and a realistic overview of the topic.

I started with the chapter that presents Queen Victoria’s life, because her complex personality and

her long, controversial reign left a definite mark on British history and, implicitly, on woman’s profile

of that time, creating a well-defined typology known as “Victorian woman.” Then I moved to the next

chapter “Victorian Era”, which deals with some of the most significant characteristics of that period

1.Introduction

from the social, political and cultural point of view. Next chapter, “Victorian Woman” is a

portratization especially of the moral qualities of women in those days, as well as the social and

familial context they lived in. Transition from the Victorian woman to the modern woman goes through

the chapter “Women – in the fight for equal rights”, in which ireversible changes, such as the right to

vote given to women, are taken into consideration. “Modern Woman” deals with the most striking

features of today woman, capable of confronting, through her own efforts, daily problems and life’s

tribulations. Last chapter is a synthesis of concepts on womankind within both eras, the conclusions

that are drawn out proving that differences matter no more when talking about the eternal feminine.

I hope that the reader will find in this work enough reasons to reflect on woman’s condition, as

well as on her evolution over the time.

Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24th of May 1819. She was the only

daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her father died shortly after her birth and

she became heir to the throne because the three uncles who were ahead

of her in succession had no legitimate children who survived.

Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting;

educated by a governess at home, she was a natural diarist and kept a

regular journal throughout her life. In 1837, she became Queen at the age

of 18. Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial

expansion, economic progress and empire. At her death, it was said,

Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.

In the early part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her

first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert,

whom she married in 1840. Both men taught her much about how to be a ruler in a 'constitutional

monarchy' where the monarch had very few powers but could use much influence. Her marriage to

Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other

royal families of Europe. Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression

after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in

affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black. Until the late 1860s she rarely appeared in

public; although she never neglected her official Correspondence, and continued to give audiences to

her ministers and official visitors.

2. Queen Victoria - the symbol of the British

Empire

In foreign policy, the Queen's influence during the middle years of her reign was generally used to

support peace and reconciliation. In 1864, Victoria pressed her ministers not to intervene in the

Prussia-Austria-Denmark war, and her letter to the German Emperor (whose son had married her

daughter) in 1875 helped to prevent a second Franco-German war.

Victoria's popularity grew with the increasing imperial sentiment from the 1870s onwards. She

also showed that a monarch, who had a high level of prestige and who was prepared to master the

details of political life, could exert an important influence. It was during Victoria's reign that the

modern idea of the constitutional monarch, whose role was to remain above political parties, began to

evolve. Although conservative in some respects - like many at the time she opposed giving women the

vote - on social issues, she tended to favour measures to improve the lot of the poor, such as the Royal

Commission on housing. She also supported many charities involved in education, hospitals and other

areas.

Victoria and her family travelled and were seen on an unprecedented scale, thanks to transport

improvements and other technical changes such as the spread of newspapers and the invention of

photography. Victoria was the first reigning monarch to use trains - she made her first train journey in

1842. In her later years, she almost became the symbol of the British Empire.

Despite her advanced age, Victoria continued her duties to the end - including an official visit to

Dublin in 1900. She died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901 after a reign which

lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history. She was buried at Windsor, beside Prince Albert, in

the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum, which she had built for their final resting place. Above the Mausoleum

door are inscribed Victoria's words: 'farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in

Christ I shall rise again'.

The Victorian era is generally agreed to stretch through the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It

was an exciting period when many artistic styles, literary schools, as well as, social, political and religious

movements flourished. It was a time of prosperity, broad imperial expansion, and great political reform. It

was also a time, which today we associate with "prudishness" and "repression". A very complex age, that

has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance. It is also the beginning of Modern Times.

The social classes of England were reforming. There was a permanent change of the old hierarchical

order, and the middle classes were steadily growing. It continued to be a large and generally poor working

class, wanting and slowly getting reform and change. Conditions of the working class were still bad,

3. Victorian era

though, through the century, three reform bills gradually gave the vote to most males over the age of

twenty-one. Unfortunately, the horrible reality of child labor persisted throughout the period.

The Victorian Era was also a time of tremendous scientific progress and ideas. Darwin took his

Voyage of the Beagle, and launched the Theory of Evolution. The Great Exhibition of 1851 took place in

London, showing the technical and industrial advances of the age, and new achievements in medicine and

the physical sciences continued throughout the century. The radical thought associated with modern

psychiatry began with men like Sigmund Feud toward the end of the era, and radical economic theory,

developed by Karl Marx and his associates, began a second age of revolution in mid-century with the ideas

of Marxism, socialism, feminism.

The era is often characterized as a long period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica, and economic,

colonial, and industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the Crimean War, although Britain was at

war every year during this time. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts

in the direction of gradual political reform and the widening of the voting franchise. The population of

England had almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901. At the same time, around

15 million emigrants left the United Kingdom in the Victorian era and settled mostly in the United States,

Canada, and Australia. Politically, during the early part of the era, the House of Commons was headed by

the two parties, the Whigs and the Tories. From the late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the Liberals;

the Tories became the Conservatives. These parties were led by many prominent statesmen including Lord

Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, William Ewart Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli.

Culturally, the novel continued to be regarded as the most important. The Period is often divided into

two parts: the early Victorian Period (ending around 1870) and the late Victorian Period. Writers associated

with the early period are: Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte,

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Charles Dickens . Writers associated with the late

Victorian Period include: George Meredith, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling. It was a time

of change and also a time of GREAT literature.

Gothic Revival architecture became increasingly significant in this period, leading to the Battle of the

Styles between Gothic and Classical ideals. Beside, the emergence of photography, which was showed at

the Great Exhibition, resulted in significant changes in Victorian art with Queen Victoria being the first

British Monarch to be photographed. An art movement indicative of this period was the Pre-Raphaelites,

which included William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and John Everett

Millais. Also during this period were the Impressionists, the Realists, and the Fauves, though the Pre-

Raphaelites were distinctive for being a completely English movement.

As stated in the beginning, the Victorian Age was an extremely diverse and complex period. It was,

indeed, the precursor of the modern era. If one wishes to understand the world today in terms of society,

culture, science, and ideas, it is imperative to study this era.

During the Era symbolized by the reign of British monarch Queen Victoria, difficulties increased for

women because of the vision of the "ideal women" shared by most in the society. The legal rights of

married women were similar to those of children. They could not vote, sue, or own property. Also, they

were seen as pure and clean. Because of this view, their bodies were seen as temples that should not be

adorned with makeup nor used for such pleasurable things as sex. The role of women was to have children

and tend the house. They could not hold a job unless it was that of a teacher, nor were they allowed to have

their own checking accounts or savings accounts. In the end, they were to be treated as saints, but saints

that had no legal rights.

Limited rights of married women

Legally, married women had rights similar to the rights of children. The law regarded a married

couple as one person. The husband was responsible for his wife and bound by law to protect her. She was

supposed to obey him. The personal property the wife brought into the marriage was then owned by the

husband, even in case of a divorce. The income of the wife

belonged completely to her husband and the custody of children

belonged to the father as well. He was able to refuse any contact

between the mother and her children. The wife was not able to

conclude a contract on her own. She needed her husband's

agreement. In addition, the married woman could not be punished

for certain offences, such as theft or burglary if she acted under

the command of her husband. It was impossible to charge the

wife for concealing her husband and for stealing from her

husband as they were one person in law. Women had no legal say in how many children they would have

nor would they get custody of children if the marriage ended in divorce. However, claims that wives were

legally "property" of their husbands are exaggerated. Murder of a wife by her husband was punishable by

death just like murder of any other person, while destroying his own property was legal. Beating

somebody else's wife was a serious crime, much more serious than damaging a property. In case of

disaster or other danger, women (including married women) were supposed to be saved before men,

which is also inconsistent with their proposed "property" status.

4. Victorian woman

Women as Generals of Households

'The Household General' is a term created in 1861 by Isabella Beeton in her manual Mrs Beeton's Book

of Household Management. Here she explained that the mistress of a household is comparable to the

Commander of an Army or the leader of an enterprise. To run a respectable household and secure the

happiness, comfort and well-being of her family she must perform her duties intelligently and thoroughly.

For example, she has to organize, delegate and instruct her servants. She is expected to organize parties and

dinners to bring prestige to her husband, also making it possible for them to meet new people and establish

economically important relationships. At the same time, she must make sure she devotes enough time to

her children and towards improving her own abilities and cultural knowledge. Another duty described by

Beeton is that of being the "sick-nurse" who takes care of ill family members. This requires a good temper,

compassion for suffering and sympathy with sufferers, neat-handedness, quiet manners, love of order and

cleanliness; all qualities a woman worthy of the name should possess in the 19th century. A woman in

Victorian times was also obliged to take care of her parents in case of illness, even if this stretched over

months and years and often implied a great sacrifice of self-interest on her side. A very special connection

existed between women and their brothers. Sisters had to treat their brothers as they would treat their future

husbands. They were dependent on their male family members as the brother's affection might secure their

future in case their husband treated them badly or they did not get married at all. Also, it was very easy to

lose one's reputation, but was difficult to establish a reputation. For example, if one person in a family did

some thing horrible, the whole family would have to suffer the consequences.

Women as Educational Inequals

The attitude towards the education of women was diferent from that

of men. Women were supposed to know the things necessary to bring up

their children and to keep house. That's why subjects as history,

geography and general literature were of extreme importance, whereas

Latin and Greek were of little importance. Women who wanted to study

such subjects as law, physics, engineering, science or art were satirized

and dismissed. People thought it unnecessary for women to attend

university. It was even said that studying was against their nature and

could make them ill. They were to stay more or less an "ornament of

society" and be subordinate to their husbands. Obedience was all that was

required of them.

Reform of Jobs Available to Women

Three medical professions were opened to women in the 19th century: nursing, midwifery, and

doctoring. However, it was only in nursing, the one most subject to the supervision and authority of male

doctors, that women were widely accepted. Victorians thought the doctor's profession characteristically

belonged to the male sex and a woman should not intrude upon this area, but stay with the conventions the

will of God has assigned to her. In conclusion, Englishmen would not have woman surgeons or physicians;

they confined them to their role as nurses. Outside of medicine, there were only a handful of legitimate

paying occupations for a middle class woman: writer or governess.

The Family Wage

Because women were restricted in the jobs they could choose, they made about half what men earned.

Because women were young, temporary, and had little training they found it difficult to command high

wages. But there was another factor, that prevented women from earning as much as a man could, even

when they were doing exactly the same work, THE FAMILY WAGE. Most young women went to work

to help their families survive. Their earnings, even if handed over to their mothers, made them less

dependent, for they had contributed to the family support, and in doing s, they gained new power.

For over hundred years women in Britain, as in many other countries, have been fighting for an equal

place in society. From the start, they saw the need to change the law. At the beginning of the nineteenth

century, woman in Britain had few, if any, legal rights. They belonged to their fathers and husbands almost

like farm animals, and could be forced into unhappy marriages for money. They could not vote or sign

contracts. They had no rights over their own children. But, middle-class women had the time and the

energy to think about their position in society and try to change it. They began to fight for the right to an

equal education with their brothers and to a useful life. They were tired of doing their embroidery, painting

and playing the piano a little. Secondary schools and colleges for girls were opened from the 1850s, and a

few brave and clever women managed to study at medical schools. The few women who managed to

become academics, secondary-school teachers and doctors opened the door for their daughters and

granddaughters.

The different classes of women had different problems and different needs, but all women either had to

accept, or fight against, their status as second-class citizens. In 1882 married women won the right to own

5. Women - in the fight for equal rights

property and in 1888 the trade unions began to talk about the right to equal pay. The main issue, however,

for women at the turn of the century was the right to vote.

The fight for women´s suffrage - the vote - began peacefully. In 1867 the first woman´s suffrage group

was founded. The aim of the early suffragists was to persuade men to change the law and allow women to

vote. Why class women with children, criminals and madmen, and deny them the vote? A few men, such as

the famous philosopher, John Stuart Mill, supported women in their struggle for the vote, but most men

were against women´s suffrage. The suffragists had enemies in Parliament, in the trade unions, in the

universities, in the Church, and in their own homes and families. They even had enemies among their own

sex. But many women did join the fight for the right to elect MPs themselves. Women like Mrs Emmeline

Pankhurst and her daughters, Sylvia and Christabel, from a comfortable middle-class family in Manchester,

Annie Kenney, a working-class girl from the Northern cotton mills, and Lady Constance Lytton from the

upper classes, joined hands in the fight for the vote. They founded societies, held public meetings and

published newspapers and magazines. It was a long and hard struggle. When sensible argument and

ladylike behaviour failed to have any effect, some of the suffragists stopped behaving like ladies. They

became violent, and society became violent towards them in turn.

However, in the subsequent decades women's rights again became an important issue in the English

world. By the 1960s the movement was called "feminism" or "women's liberation." Reformers wanted the

same pay as men, equal rights in law, and the freedom to plan their families.

While Victorian beliefs emphasized the primacy of restraint, often defined in terms of "character"

temperance, industry, reliability, for the modern woman equality, equal wages, political correctness and

acceptability are the keys in all walks of life.

Modern woman appears as intelligent, sharp-witted, agile, independent

and immaculately dressed. She is capable of accomplishing anything, if given

the chance. She goes out to work and returns home in the evening, only to find

that the evening meal is yet to be prepared! Gone are the days when she toiled

at the kitchen stove all day long; she is aware of her needs and willing to fight

for them. She expects to be given the respect she deserves, both at home and

at work. Women on two wheels have become a familiar sight even on the roads of most Asian

countries during the past few years; it is not unusual to find a woman taking her whole family on her

two-wheeler, children to school and husband to work and then manages to reach her office on time. It

6. Modern woman

would have been inconceivable a few years ago! One can find even driving schools run by women just

for women. Today women have a major part to play in every aspect of the family decisions.

It is rather difficult combining a career and a decent home life, yet modern woman can. She only

needs to feel supported and fulfilled. She may be told that children with behaviour problems were the

products of families where mothers worked, despite her belief that children get more" quality time".

Women of today expect their partners to contribute towards childcare and household chores. Most

women even find time to help the children with their homework. It is a known fact that the women are

in the fore- front, in the field of medicine, nursing and teaching, to name a few.

Today's women are learning to avoid situations that make them stressful and it is a hard struggle to

reach that goal. She has found music, yoga, aerobics, swimming, aromatherapy, massage and

hypnotherapy that gives her the quality time in the multitude of chores! Despite all this, modern woman

still believes in the power and value of a family unit that she is quite determined to hold in high esteem.

A modern woman is far more a self-respected and a stronger

being than the old stereo typed one, independent of making her own

moves and exercising her own free will. But the indispensable

question is whether all these external liberties have really succeeded

in freeing her or has it involved further complexities. Despite the fact

of external emancipation, the most ironic factor is that a modern

woman is thrown into the reality of further liberating herself from liberation itself. She is thrown into

the challenge of equipping herself to strike a balance between work and home holding. Maybe she

should be given a choice to work or stay at home in accordance with her temperament.

During the Victorian era, women were viewed as the very opposite of what a man ought to be. In

the words of John Stuart Mill, who published a criticism of the way society differentiated between

males and females, “Woman was brought up to … live for the others.” Basically, women were

expected to be sweet, docile, and man’s perfect helpmate. She was shown as the weaker vessel, she

always needed a man to “protect” her.

Not the same thing with modern woman who has no longer that protective umbrella that women

felt comfortable and secure with. It is no wonder that today's women are faced with so much

uncertainty as they have to compete in a world that is still considered a man’s world, and they find

themselves in a lifestyle whereas they have to work hard for whatever it is in life that they want.

For the Victorians, woman’s role was that as nurturer, educator of her children and her appearance

was regarded as a lady's natural duty. The ideal Victorian woman was a busy figure who‘s strength

7. Conclusions: Victorian woman vs Modern

woman

come from her moral superiority. As long as the proper etiquette was followed, a Victorian woman was

able to be considered a lady. The goal of a lady in this period was to serve others, and her etiquette and

manners all helped her to do so. Anything that she did was to please her husband and society. A woman

task was certainly located within the home and the domestic domain.

Women of today are a much different from the days before feminists started their campaign to

change what they felt was for the better. The modern woman often has no idea that she is the

culmination of so many years of struggle. She does not realise that attending school was not 'of right'.

That holding a job outside the home was an action fraught with danger. Modern woman simply doesn't

know how hard her mother, grandmother and perhaps great grandmother fought for the right to vote.

She takes her rights, her opportunities for granted. Modern women are fortunate that they are not

subject to such restraints and that they may chose whatever occupation they would like.

All in all, I think there are deep differences and unexpected similarities between Victorian and

modern women. But, beyond all these, there is something that brings all women together regardless the

era they belong to, and that is the eternal feminity. Women always find a balance between their tough

and tender sides, their dependent and independent sides. They give and take. They know when, where,

and how to say "yes" and when to say "no"; the women who suffer and survive; the women who are

mothers of children and women of the world; these are the old and the new women.

Josephine Guy - The Victorian Age: An Anthology of Sources and Documents,

Publisher: Routledge, 1998

Thomas Marc Parrott, Robert Bernard Martin - A Companion to Victorian Literature,

Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955

Sally Mitchell – Daily Life in Victorian England, Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut

London 1996

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Feminism, Women’s rights

 Wendy McElroy - Liberty for Women: Freedom

and Feminism in the 21st century,

Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, 2002

8. Bibliography