Victorian Maternity
Working Class Maternity
According to author Helena Wojtczak, “the average working class wife was either pregnant or breast-feeding from wedding day to menopause,” bearing approximately eight pregnancies, and ultimately raising approximately five children. This overflow of offspring was most likely linked to the fact that birth control literature was illegal at the time (Wojtczak). Wohl’s research of the difficulties in Victorian childbirth shows that a combination of a nutrient deficient diet, and a substantial deficiency of both height and weight prevalent in urban working class Victorian women very likely contributed to an exceedingly high number of premature births, and consequently, a high infant mortality rate. Also, working class women were expected to continue working throughout their entire pregnancy. Examples of this prejudice can be found in Victorian articles such as “The Rearing and Management of Children: Mother and Baby” in Cassells Household Guide. The article states that, “He who placed one woman in a position where labour and exertion are parts of her existence, gives her a stronger state of body than her more luxurious sisters. To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible.” In reference to pregnancy outside of marriage, Wojtczak notes that it was notably common for a working class woman to become pregnant out of wedlock, and due to the social stigma involved, and the possibility of unemployment, these women often chose to conceal their pregnancy.
Middle Class Maternity
By the mid nineteenth century, Abrams states that Victorian middle cl...
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...ther and Baby.” Cassells Household Guide, New and Revised Edition. C.1880s [no date]. Victorian London. Lee Jackson, Ed. Vol. I. Pg. 10. 8 November 2004 .
Wohl, Anthony S. “Women and Victorian Public Health: Difficulties in Childbirth.” The Victorian Web: Literature, History and Culture in the Age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. 29 June 2002. National University at Singapore. 8 November 2004. .
Wojtczak, Helena. “Pregnancy and Childbirth.” English Social History: Women of Nineteenth-Century Hastings and St.Leonards. An Illustrated Historical Miscellany. The Hastings Press. The Victorian Web: Literature, History, and Culture in the age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. National University at Singapore. 8 November 2004< http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pregnancy.html>
In the monograph, A Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote about the life of Martha Ballard based on the diary she left behind during the eighteenth century. In the dairy, Martha Ballard talks about her daily life as a midwife. Martha Ballard was one of the midwives during her era that helped with many medical related problems around the community. A Midwife’s Tale provides insight into eighteenth century medicine by showing the importance of a midwife through a firsthand account of Martha Ballard and by indicating the shift of medicine from being underdeveloped into becoming a more developed field.
Mary Poovey, “Domesticity and Class Formation: Chadwick’s 1842 Sanitary Report,” in Making a Social Body: British Cultural Formation, 1839-1864 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 115-131
Upon hearing the term, “The Victorian Woman,” it is likely that one’s mind conjures up an image of a good and virtuous woman whose life revolved around the domestic sphere of the home and family, and who demonstrated a complete devotion to impeccable etiquette as well as to a strong moral system. It is certainly true that during Victorian England the ideal female was invested in her role as a wife and a mother, and demonstrated moral stability and asexuality with an influence that acted as her family’s shield to the intrusions of industrial life. Yet despite the prevalence of such upstanding women in society, needless to say not all women lived up to such a high level of moral aptitude. Thus, we must beg the question, what became of the women who fell far short from such a standard? What became of the women who fell from this pedestal of the ideal Victorian woman, and by way of drunkenness, criminality, or misconduct became the negation of this Victorian ideal of femininity?
Children usually enjoyed the benefit of their mothers’ presence on a daily basis. The mother’s place was considered to be in the home. Common thought dictated that a woman should be available at all times to care for her husband and children. She would supervise the staff, servants and/or nannies, if her family could afford them. The idea of a working mother was considered highly improper and thought to result in neglect of husband, children and home. Supposedly, illness or even death might arise in the children. An absent wife would also find an unhappy and strained relationship with her husband. Reporting on Birmingham, in Chadwick’s 1842 Report on Sanitary Conditions, The Committee of Physicians and Surgeons declares that:
Wertz, R., and Wertz D. Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America. New York: Free Press. 1997
Childbirth was the leading cause of death among young women. Approximately 20% of women died in childbirth because of poor medical care. Women who were poor had a lifespan of about 40 years (Trueman, “Medieval Women”). A caesarean section was normally only performed if the mother was dead or dying as it was in...
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
Taylor, J. Of sonograms and baby prams: prenatal diagnosis, pregnancy and consumption. (May 2000) Feminist Studies.
Although abortions were very dangerous, as well as socially unacceptable during the nineteenth century, women were not altogether unable to obtain abortions and many suffered accusations of infanticide. Here I will present a few of the more famous cases from the period, demonstrating the occurrence of abortion, the availability of providers, and the consequences faced by those who necessitated the procedure.
Buzard, James, Linda K. Hughes. "The Victorian Nation and its Others" and "1870." A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. 35-50, 438-455.
Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, the social barriers of the Victorian class system firmly defined the roles of women. The families of Victorian England were divided into four distinct classes: the Nobility or Gentry Class, the Middle Class, the Upper Working Class, and lastly, the Lower Working class . The women of these classes each had their own traditional responsibilities. The specifics of each woman’s role were varied by the status of her family. Women were expected to adhere to the appropriate conventions according to their place in the social order . For women in Victorian England their lives were regulated by these rules and regulations, which stressed obedience, loyalty, and respect.
"The Victorian Era." History of Human Sexuality in Western Culture. Word Press, n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2014.
“Current views concerning Victorian femininity continued to be dominated by the 19th century concept of domestic purity and the association figure of the ideal woman, the ‘angle in the house’, carrying out her mission as wife, mother and daughter” (Swisher). During this era men had ...
Since the sixteenth century, one of the most important roles of mothers, or women in general, was to have children. Although most women accepted this role and believed it was their duty to have children, not every woman was pleased with this seemingly confining role. Within the confines of this role there were also many misconceptions. At the time, most people believed that although male involvement was necessary for the conception of children, women controlled many aspects of the child, including the sex of the child. While it was a common belief that women controlled certain aspects of pregnancy, women really had no control over when and if they got pregnant. Prior to the eighteenth century there was really no indication of widespread use of birth control methods. Without reliable birth control, women would often become a mother within their first year of marriage and continue to have children every couple of years until menopause. Although women during this time period experienced high birth rates, they often did not end up raising nearly as many children as they gave birth to, since the infant mortality rate and death rate were very high. With such a high death rate, birth control was not as necessary as it would be in a more modern...
The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as, not being able to; control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well. Not only was the fact that women were viewed as second-class citizens and had limited rights compared to men during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a major problem, but women were also held to a much different standard, and expected to carry out many