Victorian Women:

Daily Life
Corinne McClenahan and
My Lynn Nguyen
Engl 273

Introduction
Around 1848 women in Victorian England
were different throughout the various classes.
Society and the economy had a great deal to
do with how they dressed, behaved, and the
present conceptions of Victorian women
Many women supported themselves and their
family with paying jobs, as well as already
having the domestic life to return to.
Sexuality, intellect, and personal satisfaction
were not emphasized. (Beeton)
Feminine happiness was the result of faithful
execution of domestic duties, making the
good bourgeois wife an angel of the house.
(Beeton)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/efae17089cf8b12fa5
3.jpg

Choose a class
Undercl Middle Upper
working class
ass

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/dore/5a.jpg
http://www.rarebookschool.org/2005/exhibitions/eyreapparent/img/charlotte_big.jpg
http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Victorians/1895tailmarb.jpg

UNDERCLASS/LOWERCLASS
Lower than the lowest workers, many women resorted
to prostitution to take care of themselves and their
children. The struggling economy and low job
availability left unskilled women to face poverty,
illness, and disease on the streets, many of who were
elderly as well.

http://aljwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/prostitute20.gif

 seamstresses, mill workers

-working on the farm, factories,
and mines
-wash clothing for upper
classes and are servants
-some would prepare and sell
fish or make or repair nets

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iP2BwIvsRA/S8kuTbdxxdI/AAAAAAAABtY/XKpsBN3njU0/s400/vintagesewing.jpg

MIDDLE
Around the 1840s women were
becoming more and more responsible
for themselves and their family. As a
result, they began holding occupations
including: tradeswomen, attorneys,
hoteliers engineers, teachers (school
mistresses, governesses).

Female writers such as Charlotte

Bronte challenged impressions of what
is appropriate behavior for women,
through creating a prominent heroine
character in Jane Eyre (1847)

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?
q=tbn:ANd9GcQMFABVsPkVQ47g3Rhmg_adk_6Ejb
yvXXhdIAumi4lOiPaXlnN8

http://19thcenturyhistorian.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/image142.
if

Victorian kitchen." Photos/Illustrations. Our Life

in a Flat, in Hellis, Nellie. The Girl's Own Paper
February 28, 1885. Daily Life through History.
ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

Needlework and teaching were seen as natural

professions for women at this time.
(VictorianWeb)

UPPER CLASS

The Uplands and The Lawn

- Exclusively for wealthy women, lived
in these houses that overlooked the
sea and gardens
- if a woman had a good education
then she might become a governess
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/law
(a woman employed to teach children
in a private household.)

http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/archers.jpg

if she was born into a wealthy family, then

her familywould set her up with a school or
small business
Women of this class usually associated with
others of their class.

Princess Victoria
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/victoria.jpg
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/1863.jpg

http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Victorians/confmarb415x20.jpg
Woman and daughter dusting parlor."
Photos/Illustrations. Library of Congress. Daily
Life through History. ABC-CLIO,2014. Web. 2
Dec. 2014.
A fashionable lady in dress and undress" ( 1807)."
Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2
Dec. 2014.

Thank you

http://womanandhersphere.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/club-picture.jpg

Work Cited
"Aspects of the Changing Status of New England Women
1790-1840." Teach US History |. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
Nov.
2014.
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." American Scenes of
Everyday Life, 1840 1910. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
"Jane Eyre and the 19th Century Woman." The British
Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian
Period." Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the
Victorian Period. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"Miscellaneous Women's Occupations in Hastings,
1850s-1870s." Miscellaneous Women's Occupations in
Hastings, 1850s-1870s. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.