Flashcards on The Woman Question: Historical Perspectives
The Woman Question: Historical Perspectives & Analysis for Students
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Victorian gender relations
21 cards
Card 1
Question: How did gender roles change during the Victorian period compared with earlier centuries?
Answer: Men’s and women’s roles became more sharply defined; previously women often worked alongside men in family businesses, but in the Victorian era men in
Card 2
Question: Why was it easier in earlier centuries for women to combine work and domestic duties?
Answer: Living 'over the shop' allowed women to help serve customers or keep accounts while also attending to household tasks.
Card 3
Question: What effect did men commuting to work in the 19th century have on women's daily roles?
Answer: Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to oversee domestic duties, which were increasingly carried out by servants.
Card 4
Question: How did crinoline fashion from the 1830s affect women’s ability to do household chores?
Answer: The huge bell-shaped crinoline made it virtually impossible to clean a grate or sweep the stairs without tumbling over, limiting domestic activity.
Card 5
Question: What does the term 'Separate Spheres' refer to in Victorian gender relations?
Answer: The belief that men and women inhabited different domains—men the public sphere (work) and women the domestic sphere—only coming together at meals.
Card 6
Question: On what idea did the ideology of Separate Spheres rest?
Answer: A definition of 'natural' characteristics: women were seen as physically weaker but morally superior, making them best suited to the domestic sphere.
Card 7
Question: Why were women considered important at home under the Separate Spheres ideology?
Answer: They were expected to counterbalance the moral taint of the public sphere where husbands worked and to prepare the next generation to continue that wa
Card 8
Question: How was women's domestic influence used politically regarding the vote?
Answer: Their great influence at home was used as an argument against giving women the vote.
Card 9
Question: What kind of education were women expected to receive to fit the role of 'Angel in the House'?
Answer: A new education focused on 'accomplishments'—music, singing, drawing, dancing, modern languages, and manners—taught at boarding schools or by governes
Card 10
Question: Why were 'accomplishments' emphasized for middle-class girls instead of intellectual study?
Answer: Accomplishments were intended to prepare them for domestic roles and to attract a husband; intense intellectual pursuit was seen as unfeminine and off