The Victorian Era - Essay Example

Women had to depend on their husbands since the law barred them from trading as well as holding professions.  A woman had to be virgin a to be considered a potential wife. She had to remain innocent as well as not have sex or love thoughts before marriage. Such a requirement was not expected of men. Women were believed to have sex as their controller and hence needed to be regulated the society demanded unquestionable compliance from a woman while no man was expected to do so.

            After marriage, a woman’s rights, identity, and poverty ceased. The husband supervised her completely as per the law, owning the children, her property as well as her. Wife beating and rape were legal. Women held a significant position in marriage since they cared for the household, and servants as well as the management of finances; however, men viewed them as overly emotional as well as mindlessly controlled by sexuality. Whatever a woman did was not seen to be as important as the work of a man.

Motherhood could be separated from anything sexual almost all the time. Sex was not for pleasure for them but mainly for bearing kids. Sex for pleasure was viewed as scandalous and dirty.  Purity was significant for mothers to get appreciation. Mothers needed to be religious because religion supported women’s views of sexual satisfaction and passion. With a lack of religious faith, a woman was unable to inspire sexual propriety within her daughter, hence not fit t be a mother.     

            Adultery for men was allowed but for women, it could lead to divorce. Adultery for men could only lead to divorce if it were compounded by a different matrimonial offense for instance dissertation or cruelty. Prostitution was legal at this time and it was the second category. There was not that much difference between mothers and prostitutes in the sense that men saw all women as whores. However, prostitutes were referred to as fallen women who deserved disrespect and shame. All other professions weren't meant for women except prostitution mainly because it benefited men.

This sort of slavery only started to end in 1850 when an effective organization for women arose and started to campaign against male oppression. From earlier ages, girls had been taught how useless they were, based on separate spheres. Feminists felt that woman's life was like slavery. They saw their campaign as the means to end sexual discrimination brought about by their assumed sphere of submissiveness. The 1839 infant act gave mothers perfect access to children during divorce or separation.  The 1857 matrimonial causes act gave women some limited access to divorce.  In 1857violence was recognized to be grounds for divorce. In 1870, women were able to keep the money they could earn. In 1878, the entitlement to the child as well as spousal support was recognized. Read More