Separate Spheres And Women S Status In 19th Century England
Week 11, Lecture : Separate Spheres and Women’s Status in 19th Century England
PART 1: 1792-1840s
Introduction: Women’s Status in early 19th century
ALTHOUGH feminist ideas have circulated in Britain for over 3 centuries, an organised woman‟s movement did not emerge until the mid-19th century. How can we explain this?
As we have seen, Wollstonecraft‟s 1792 Vindication was an endeavour to apply the liberating ideals of the French Revolution to the position of women in Europe, a call to arms to change the subordinate position of women in society. But the Vindication was regarded as so revolutionary, that it was banned from every „decent‟ home, and it was not until the latter decades of the 19th century, in the 1880s and 1890s, that Wollstonecraft was rehabilitated with the emergence of new discussions and perspectives of feminism.
In essence, following Mary‟s death, there was a temporary rupture of feminist debate partly because of a conservative backlash following the French Revolution. This backlash against radicalism made any possibility of social reform difficult. Certainly, this was not a climate in which debates about women‟s rights or radical changes in sexual relations or family life could be countenanced. Moreover, demands for changes to women‟s status met with resistance; the British only had to look across the Channel where, following the
Revolution, French women had been allowed the extension of certain rights and powers.
As far as the English were concerned, French women appeared to be „rising above themselves‟, and the British were reluctant to have English women emulating their
French counterparts. Not surprisingly, when discussions about women‟s rights arose, they were generally tied to wider debates about female immorality, particularly following
Godwin‟s revelations about the Pro-French Revolutionary Wollstonecraft‟s free
1
sexuality. Extending social/political power to women, it was argued, would only result in their immorality and ultimately
PART 1: 1792-1840s
Introduction: Women’s Status in early 19th century
ALTHOUGH feminist ideas have circulated in Britain for over 3 centuries, an organised woman‟s movement did not emerge until the mid-19th century. How can we explain this?
As we have seen, Wollstonecraft‟s 1792 Vindication was an endeavour to apply the liberating ideals of the French Revolution to the position of women in Europe, a call to arms to change the subordinate position of women in society. But the Vindication was regarded as so revolutionary, that it was banned from every „decent‟ home, and it was not until the latter decades of the 19th century, in the 1880s and 1890s, that Wollstonecraft was rehabilitated with the emergence of new discussions and perspectives of feminism.
In essence, following Mary‟s death, there was a temporary rupture of feminist debate partly because of a conservative backlash following the French Revolution. This backlash against radicalism made any possibility of social reform difficult. Certainly, this was not a climate in which debates about women‟s rights or radical changes in sexual relations or family life could be countenanced. Moreover, demands for changes to women‟s status met with resistance; the British only had to look across the Channel where, following the
Revolution, French women had been allowed the extension of certain rights and powers.
As far as the English were concerned, French women appeared to be „rising above themselves‟, and the British were reluctant to have English women emulating their
French counterparts. Not surprisingly, when discussions about women‟s rights arose, they were generally tied to wider debates about female immorality, particularly following
Godwin‟s revelations about the Pro-French Revolutionary Wollstonecraft‟s free
1
sexuality. Extending social/political power to women, it was argued, would only result in their immorality and ultimately