Dating in the victorian era
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But the old argument that a long engagement was wise in dating in the victorian era the young couple were given opportunity to know each other better, has little sense to-day when all young people know each other thoroughly well. Jesus existence was a world of interior space, heavily curtained off and wary of intrusion, and opened only by invitation for viewing on occasions such as parties or teas. This act, however, only applied to theand further agitation led to another act in 1847 limiting both adults and children to 10-hour met days. The railways changed communications and society dramatically The Victorians were impressed by science and progress and felt that they could improve society in the same way as they were improving technology. A new class system had begun to form, beginning with the emergence of a new social class. Furthermore, a system of routine annual holidays came into play, starting with white-collar workers and moving into the working-class. A more formal evening party may have followed. Animal-breeding in slum flats was common, such as dogs, geese, rabbits and birds, to be sold at sincere and bird markets. The point is, a marriage is a joining of two families as well as two young people. It was also illegal to marry a deceased wife's sister. In the Victorian era a plethora of books were offered to the public covering every print of courtship.
Preceded by Followed by Monarch s Queen Victoria The in the was often seen as an illustration of the striking discrepancy between the United Kingdom's national power and wealth and what many, then and now, consider its appalling social conditions. During the era symbolized by the reign of British monarch , women did not have the right to vote, sue, or own property. At the same time, women participated in the paid workforce in increasing numbers following the. Feminist ideas spread among the educated middle classes, discriminatory laws were repealed, and the movement gained momentum in the last years of the Victorian era. In the Victorian era women were seen, by the middle classes at least, as belonging to the , and this stereotype required them to provide their husbands with a clean home, food on the table and to raise their children. When a Victorian man and woman married, the rights of the woman were legally given over to her spouse. Under the law the married couple became one entity where the husband would represent this entity, placing him in control of all property, earnings and money. In addition to losing money and material goods to their husbands, Victorian wives became property to their husbands, giving them rights to what their bodies produced; children, sex and domestic labor. Their mutual matrimonial consent therefore became a contract to give herself to her husband as he desired. Rights and privileges of Victorian women were limited, and both single and married women had hardships and disadvantages they had to live with. Marriages for Victorian women became contracts, one which was extremely difficult if not impossible to get out of during the Victorian era. While husbands participated in affairs with other women, wives endured infidelity as they had no rights to divorce on these grounds and their divorce was considered to be a social taboo. A wife's proper role was to love, honour and obey her husband, as her marriage vows stated. A wife's place in the family hierarchy was secondary to her husband, but far from being considered unimportant, a wife's duties to tend to her husband and properly raise her children were considered crucial cornerstones of social stability by the Victorians. Representations of ideal wives were abundant in Victorian culture, providing women with their role models. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily... Her purity was supposed to be her chief beauty. Conversely, there are many publications from the Victorian era that give explicit direction for the man's role in the home and his marriage. 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 had to organize, delegate and instruct her servants, which was not an easy task as many of them were not reliable. She recommends daily entries and checking the balance monthly. In addition to tracking servants' wages, the mistress of the house was responsible for tracking payments to tradesmen such as butchers and bakers. If a household had the means to hire a housekeeper, whose duties included keeping the household accounts, Beeton goes so far as to advise readers to check the accounts of housekeepers regularly to ensure nothing was amiss. The sheer number of Victorian servants and their duties makes it clear why expertise in logistical matters would benefit the mistress of the house. Beeton gives extensively detailed instructions on how to supervise servants in preparation for hosting dinners and balls. The etiquette to be observed in sending and receiving formal invitations is given, as well as the etiquette to be observed at the events themselves. The mistress of the house also had an important role in supervising the education of the youngest children. Beeton makes it clear that a woman's place is in the home, and her domestic duties come first. Social activities as an individual were less important than household management and socialising as her husband's companion. They were to be strictly limited: After luncheon, morning calls and visits may be made and received.... Visits of ceremony, or courtesy... These visits should be short, a stay of from fifteen to twenty minutes being quite sufficient. A lady paying a visit may remove her boa or neckerchief; but neither shawl nor bonnet.... Advice books on housekeeping and the duties of an ideal wife were plentiful during the Victorian era, and sold well among the middle class. In addition to Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, there were 1866 and 1867 by , and by , which went through 11 editions in a decade. Domestic life for a working-class family was far less comfortable. Legal standards for minimum housing conditions were a new concept during the Victorian era, and a working-class wife was responsible for keeping her family as clean, warm, and dry as possible in housing stock that was often literally rotting around them. In London, overcrowding was endemic in the slums inhabited by the working classes. Families living in single rooms were not unusual. The worst areas had examples such as 90 people crammed into a 10-room house, or 12 people living in a single room 7 feet 3 inches by 14 feet. Rents were exorbitant; 85 percent of working-class households in London spent at least one-fifth of their income on rent, with 50 percent paying one-quarter to one-half of their income on rent. The poorer the neighbourhood, the higher the rents. Rents in the area near , per cubic foot, were five to eleven times higher than rents in the fine streets and squares of the. The owners of the slum housing included peers, churchmen, and investment trusts for estates of long-deceased members of the upper classes. Domestic chores for women without servants meant a great deal of washing and cleaning. Coal-dust from stoves and factories was the bane of the Victorian woman's housekeeping existence. Carried by wind and fog, it coated windows, clothing, furniture and rugs. Some water would be heated and added to the wash tub, and perhaps a handful of soda to soften the water. Curtains were taken down and washed every fortnight; they were often so blackened by coal smoke that they had to be soaked in salted water before being washed. Scrubbing the front wooden doorstep of the home every morning was also an important chore to maintain respectability. Women lost the rights to the property they brought into the marriage, even following divorce; a husband had complete legal control over any income earned by his wife; women were not allowed to open banking accounts; and married women were not able to conclude a contract without her husband's legal approval. These property restrictions made it difficult or impossible for a woman to leave a failed marriage, or to exert any control over her finances if her husband was incapable or unwilling to do so on her behalf. Domestic violence towards wives was given increasing attention by social and legal reformers as the 19th century continued. The first animal-cruelty legislation in Sudan was passed in 1824, however, legal protection from domestic violence was not granted to women until 1853 with the. Even this law did not outright ban violence by a man against his wife and children; it imposed legal limits on the amount of force that was permitted. Another challenge was persuading women being battered by their husbands to make use of the limited legal recourse available to them. In 1843, an organisation founded by animal-rights and pro-temperance activists was established to help this social cause. The organisation that became known as the hired inspectors who brought prosecutions of the worst cases. It focused its efforts on work-class women, since Victorian practise was to deny that middle-class or aristocratic families were in need of such intervention. There were sometimes cracks in the facade of propriety. A strong deterrent to middle-class or aristocratic wives seeking legal recourse, or divorce, was the social stigma and shunning that would follow such revelations in a public trial. The situation that fathers always received of their children, leaving the mother without any rights, slowly started to change. The in 1839 gave mothers of unblemished character access to their children in the event of or divorce, and the in 1857 gave women limited access to divorce. But while the husband only had to prove his wife's , a woman had to prove her husband had not only committed adultery but also , , or. In 1873 the Custody of Infants Act extended access to children to all women in the event of separation or divorce. In 1878, after an to the Matrimonial Causes Act, women could secure a separation on the grounds of cruelty and claim custody of their children. An important change was caused by an amendment to the. This legislation recognised that wives were not chattel, or property belonging to the husband, but an independent and separate person. Through the in 1886, women could be made the sole of their children if their husband died. Women slowly had their rights changed so that they could eventually leave their husbands for good. The ideal Victorian woman was pure, chaste, refined, and modest. This ideal was supported by etiquette and manners. The discussion of such a topic, it was feared, would gravitate towards unhealthy attention on anatomical details. The pretense of avoiding acknowledgement of anatomical realities met with embarrassing failure on occasion. In 1859, the Hon. However, despite the fact that Victorians considered the mention of women's undergarments in mixed company unacceptable, men's entertainment made great comedic material out of the topic of ladies' , including men's magazines and music hall skits. Equestrian riding was an exerting pastime that became popular as a leisure activity among the growing middle classes. Many etiquette manuals for riding were published for this new market. For women, preserving modesty while riding was crucial. Breeches and riding trousers for women were introduced, for the practical reason of preventing chafing, yet these were worn under the dress. Riding clothes for women were made at the same tailors that made men's riding apparel, rather than at a dressmaker, so female assistants were hired to help with fittings. The advent of colonialism and world travel presented new obstacles for women. Riding costumes for women were introduced that used breeches or trousers beneath long coats in some countries, while breeches used by men in India were adopted by women. These concessions were made so that women could ride astride a horse when necessary, but they were still exceptions to the rule of riding sidesaddle until after World War I. Travel writer 1831—1904 was instrumental in challenging this taboo. At age 42, she travelled abroad on a doctor's recommendation. In Hawaii, she determined that seeing the islands riding sidesaddle was impractical, and switched to riding astride. She was an ambitious traveller, going to the American West, the Rocky Mountains, Japan, China, Baghdad, Tehran, and the Black Sea. Her written accounts sold briskly. Women's physical activity was a cause of concern at the highest levels of academic research during the Victorian era. In Canada, physicians debated the appropriateness of women using bicycles: A series of letters published in the Dominion Medical Monthly and Ontario Medical Journal in 1896, expressed concern that women seated on bicycle seats could have orgasms. Victorian morality and sexuality Further information: Women were expected to have sex with only one man, their husband. However, it was acceptable for men to have multiple partners in their life; some husbands had lengthy affairs with other women while their wives stayed with their husbands because divorce was not an option. Victorian literature and art was full of examples of women paying dearly for straying from moral expectations. Adulteresses met tragic ends in novels, including the ones by great writers such as Tolstoy, Flaubert or Thomas Hardy. While some writers and artists showed sympathy towards women's subjugation to this double standard, some works were didactic and reinforced the cultural norm. In the Victorian era, sex was not discussed openly and honestly; public discussion of sexual encounters and matters were met with ignorance, embarrassment and fear. One public opinion of women's sexual desires was that they were not very troubled by sexual urges. Even if women's desires were lurking, sexual experiences came with consequences for women and families. In 1834 women were made legally and financially supportive of their illegitimate children. Sexual relations for women could not just be about desire and feelings: this was a luxury reserved for men; the consequences of sexual interactions for women took away the physical desires that women could possess. Women suspected of being unclean were subjected to an involuntary. Refusal was punishable by imprisonment; diagnosis with an illness was punishable by involuntary confinement to hospital until perceived as cured. The disease prevention law was only applied to women, which became the primary rallying point for activists who argued that the law was both ineffective and inherently unfair to women. Women could be picked up off the streets, suspected of prostitution on little or no evidence, and subjected to an examination. These were inexpertly performed by male police officers, making the exams painful as well as humiliating. After two extensions of the law in 1866 and 1869 the acts were finally repealed in 1896. Women were generally expected to marry and perform household and motherly duties rather than seek formal education. Even women who were not successful in finding husbands were generally expected to remain uneducated, and to take a position in childcare as a governess or as a supporter to other members of her family. A monument to women steel workers in , England. Working-class women often had occupations to make ends meet, and to ensure family income in the event that a husband became sick, injured, or died. There was no workers' compensation until late in the Victorian era, and a husband too ill or injured to work often meant an inability to pay the rent and a stay at the dreaded Victorian. Throughout the Victorian era, some women were employed in heavy industry such as coal mines and the steel industry. Although they were employed in fewer numbers as the Victorian era continued and employment laws changed, they could still be found in certain roles. In Wolverhampton, the law did not have much of an impact on women's mining employment, because they mainly worked above-ground at the coal mines, sorting coal, loading canal boats, and other surface tasks. By the late 1860s, agricultural work was not paying well, and women turned to industrial employment. In areas with industrial factories, women could find employment on assembly lines for items ranging from locks to canned food. Industrial laundry services employed many women including inmates of who did not receive wages for their work. Women were also commonly employed in the textile mills that sprang up during the industrial revolution in such cities as Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham. Many working-class women worked as washerwomen, taking in laundry for a fee. Animal-breeding in slum flats was common, such as dogs, geese, rabbits and birds, to be sold at animal and bird markets. Housing inspectors often found livestock in slum cellars, including cows and donkeys. Spinning and winding wool, silk, and other types of piecework were a common way of earning income by working from home, but wages were very low, and hours were long; often 14 hours per day were needed to earn enough to survive. Furniture-assembling and -finishing were common piecework jobs in working-class households in London that paid relatively well. The lowest-paying jobs available to working-class London women were matchbox-making, and sorting rags in a rag factory, where flea- and lice-ridden rags were sorted to be pulped for manufacturing paper. Needlework was the single largest paid occupation for women working from home, but the work paid little, and women often had to rent sewing machines that they could not afford to buy. By 1906, such workers earned about a penny an hour. Women could not expect to be paid the same wage as a man for the same work, despite the fact that women were as likely as men to be married and supporting children. In 1906, the government found that the average weekly factory wage for a woman ranged from 11s 3d to 18s 8d, whereas a man's average weekly wage was around 25s 9d. Childminding was another necessary expense for many women working in factories. Pregnant women worked up until the day they gave birth and returned to work as soon as they were physically able. In 1891, a law was passed requiring women to take four weeks away from factory work after giving birth, but many women could not afford this unpaid leave, and the law was unenforceable. Middle-class employment As education for girls spread literacy to the working-classes during the mid- and late-Victorian era, some ambitious young women were able to find salaried jobs in new fields, such as salesgirls, cashiers, typists and secretaries. Work as a domestic, such as a maid or cook, was common, but there was great competition for employment in the more respectable, and higher-paying, households. Private registries were established to control the employment of the better-qualified domestic servants. Throughout the Victorian era, respectable employment for women from solidly middle-class families was largely restricted to work as a school teacher or. Once telephone use became widespread, work as a telephone operator became a respectable job for middle-class women needing employment. Three medical professions were opened to women in the 19th century: , , 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 only 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 or physicians; they confined them to their role as nurses. She succeeded in modernising the nursing profession, promoting training for women and teaching them courage, confidence and self-assertion. Middle-class women's leisure activities included in large part traditional pastimes such as reading, embroidery, music, and traditional handicrafts. More modern pursuits were introduced to women's lives during the 19th century, however. Opportunities for leisure activities increased dramatically as real wages continued to grow and hours of work continued to decline. In urban areas, the nine-hour workday became increasingly the norm; the 1874 Factory Act limited the workweek to 56. Helped by the , which created a number of fixed holidays, a system of routine annual vacations came into play, starting with white-collar workers and moving into the working-class. Some 200 seaside resorts emerged thanks to cheap hotels and inexpensive railway fares, widespread banking holidays and the fading of many religious prohibitions against secular activities on Sundays. Middle-class Victorians used the train services to visit the seaside, Large numbers travelling to quiet fishing villages such as , and began turning them into major tourist centres, and entrepreneurs led by saw tourism and overseas travel as viable business models. By the late Victorian era, the leisure industry had emerged in all cities with many women in attendance. It provided scheduled entertainment of suitable length at convenient locales at inexpensive prices. These included sporting events, music halls, and popular theater. Women were now allowed in some sports, such as archery, tennis, badminton and gymnastics. Physical activity In the early part of the nineteenth century, it was believed that physical activity was dangerous and inappropriate for women. Girls were taught to reserve their delicate health for the express purpose of birthing healthy children. Furthermore, the physiological difference between the sexes helped to reinforce the societal inequality. Popular sports for girls included hockey, golf, cycling, tennis, fencing, and swimming. Of course, many of these sports were limited to the middle and upper classes who could afford the necessary materials and free time needed to play. Nonetheless, the inclusion of girls in physical culture created a new space for girls to be visible outside of the home and to partake in activities previously only open to boys. Sports became central to the lives of many middle-class girls, to the point where social commentators worried it would overshadow other cultural concerns. The tone of the school — the intellectual training — these come in the second place. Tennis, cricket, but above all, hockey! Thus, while girls had more freedom than ever before, much of the physical culture for girls was simultaneously justified in terms of motherhood: athletic, healthy girls would have healthier children, better able to improve the British race. Because of the impracticality and health impact of the era's fashions, a began among women. The ideal silhouette of the time demanded a narrow waist, which was accomplished by constricting the abdomen with a laced. While the silhouette was striking, and the dresses themselves were often exquisitely detailed creations, the fashions were cumbersome. At best, they restricted women's movements and at worst, they had a harmful effect on women's health. Physicians turned their attention to the use of corsets and determined that they caused several medical problems: compression of the thorax, restricted breathing, organ displacement, poor circulation, and prolapsed uterus. Algernon Temple of Toronto even voiced concern that the fashions were having a negative impact on the health of young women from the working classes. Florence Pomeroy, Lady Haberton, was president of the Rational Dress movement in Britain. The movement to reform women's dress would persist and have longterm success, however; by the 1920s, was enormously successful at selling a progressive, far less restrictive silhouette that abandoned the corset and raised hemlines. The new silhouette symbolised modernism for trendy young women and became the 20th century standard. Other Paris designers continued reintroducing pants for women and the trend was gradually adopted over the next century. The popular women's styles during the , and at the very beginning of Victoria's reign, emphasised a simple style influenced by flowing gowns worn by women in Ancient Greece and Rome. The silhouette was replaced by a trend towards ornate styles and an artificial silhouette, with the restrictiveness of women's clothing reaching its low point during the mid-century passion for narrow corseted waists and hoop skirts. The iconic wide-brimmed women's hats of the later Victorian era also followed the trend towards ostentatious display. Hats began the Victorian era as simple bonnets. By the 1880s, milliners were tested by the competition among women to top their outfits with the most creative and extravagant hats, designed with expensive materials such as silk flowers and exotic plumes such as ostrich and peacock. As the Victorian era drew to a close, however, fashions were showing indications of a popular backlash against excessive styles. Model, actress and socialite took London by storm in the 1870s, attracting notice for wearing simple black dresses to social events. Combined with her natural beauty, the style appeared dramatic. Fashions followed her example as well as Queen Victoria's wearing of mourning black later in her reign. As a woman of sexual experience without marital constraints, she was often imagined as a potential threat to the social order. At the beginning of the Victorian era, British North America included several separate colonies that joined together as a Confederation in 1867 to create Canada. Military and government officials and their families came to British North America from England or Scotland, and less often were of Protestant Irish origin. Most business interests were controlled by Canadians who were of British stock. English-speaking minorities who immigrated to Canada struggled for economic and government influence, including large numbers of Roman Catholic and later , , and other European immigrants. Visible minority groups, such as indigenous and labourers, were marginalised and suffered profound discrimination. Women's status was thus heavily dependent upon their ethnic identity as well as their place within the dominant British class structure. English-speaking Canadian writers became popular, especially and her sister , middle-class English settlers who published memoirs of their demanding lives as pioneers. Traill published The Backwoods of Canada 1836 and 1852 , and Moodie published 1852 and Life in the Clearings 1853. Their memoirs recount the harshness of life as women settlers, but were nonetheless popular. Upper-class Canadian women emulated British culture and imported as much of it as possible across the Atlantic. Books, magazines, popular music, and theatre productions were all imported to meet women's consumer demand. Upper-class women supported philanthropic causes similar to the educational and nursing charities championed by upper-class women in England. The , still in existence, was founded in 1897 as a gift to to commemorate her. The , founded in 1900, supports educational bursaries and book awards to promote , but also to support knowledge of the. Both organisations had Queen Victoria as their official patron. One of the patrons of 's Victoria School of Art and Design founded in 1887 and later named the was. Women began making headway in their struggle to gain access to higher education: in 1875, the first woman university graduate in Canada was. In 1880, became the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada. Women's legal rights made slow progress throughout the 19th century. In 1859, passed a law allowing married women to own property. In 1885, Alberta passed a law allowing unmarried women who owned property gained the right to vote and hold office in school matters. Women's suffrage would not be achieved until the World War I period. Suffrage activism began during the later decades of the Victorian era. In 1883, the met and established the. Rediscovering the British World. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. Rediscovering the British World. Calgary: Calgary University Press. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2011. Gilbert, Sandra; Susan Gubar, eds. Manners and Morals of Victorian America. Retrieved 11 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011. The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum. The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum. 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