Feminine Movement in Europe in the 19-20th Centuries

In the 19th century the Industrial Revolution transformed life in Britain. It changed from a country where most people lived in the countryside and worked in farming to one where most people lived in towns and worked in industry. In the 19th century 'work' became separated from 'home'. A middle class woman’s place was definitely in the home. Nevertheless in that century women did gain more rights and some women became famous novelists.

In the 19th century at least 80% of the population was working class. In order to be considered middle class you had to have at least one servant. Most servants were female. (Male servants were much more expensive because men were paid much higher wages). Throughout the century 'service' was a major employer of women.

For working class women life was an endless round of hard work and drudgery. As soon as they were old enough they worked on farms and in factories. Even when they married and had children housework was very hard without electricity or modern cleaning agents.

On the other hand in the 19th century working class girls began to get some education. In the early and mid 19th century the churches provided some schools. After 1870 the state provided them.

In a Victorian family the Father was head of the family. He wife and children respected him and obeyed him (at least that was the theory!). Until 1882 all a woman's property, even the money she earned, belonged to her husband. Divorce was made legal in 1857 but it was very rare in the 19th century.

In the 19th century wealthy women were kept busy running the household and organizing the servants. Well to do women often also did charitable work.

In 1874 the first successful typewriter went on sale and the telephone was invented in 1876. These two new inventions meant more job opportunities for women.

In the late 19th century contraception became easier. In 1877 Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh published a book on the subject called Fruits of Philosophy. They were both prosecuted by their sentences were quashed on appeal.

In any case many brides were pregnant at their wedding - perhaps as many as half of them. Furthermore people often lived together without marrying because they couldn't afford a wedding.

Life became more comfortable for most women in the 19th century. James Simpson (1811-1870), who was Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University, began using chloroform for operations in 1847. Incredibly some people disapproved of using chloroform to relieve pain, especially if it was used to help women giving birth. Some people thought that childbirth ought to be painful! However in 1853 Queen Victoria insisted in having chloroform when she gave birth to her eight child. Afterwards most of the opposition to using chloroform ended. Nobody dared criticize the queen!

In the 19th century women practiced archery, which was considered 'ladylike'. In the late 19th century tennis, croquet and cycling were popular pastimes. Women first played at Wimbledon in 1884. Some intrepid women went mountaineering.

From 1865 women in Britain were allowed to become doctors. The first British woman doctor was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917). Elizabeth also became the first woman in Britain to become mayor of a town (Aldeburgh) in 1908. The first woman in Britain to qualify as a dentist was Lilian Murray in 1895. The first woman to qualify as an architect in Britain was Ethel Charles in 1898.

In 1869 John Stuart Mill published his book The Subjection of Women, which demanded equal rights for women.

At Oxford University from 1884 onwards women were allowed to attend lectures and take university exams for the first time (although they were not actually awarded degrees till 1920). Halls were built for female students (later they became colleges). Elizabeth Wordsworth founded Lady Margaret Hall for women in 1878. Somerville College for women was founded in 1879. St Hilda’s College was founded in 1893 by Dorothea Beale.

In Britain women ratepayers were allowed to vote in local elections after 1869. However in 1893 New Zealand became the first country to allow women to vote in national elections. The first Women’s Institute was founded in Canada in 1897. The first in Britain was founded in 1915.

In the early 19th century women wore light dresses. In the 1830s they had puffed sleeves. In the 1850s they wore frames of whalebone or steel wire called crinolines under their skirts. In the late 1860s Victorian women began to wear a kind of half crinoline. The front of the skirt was flat but it bulged outwards at the back. This was called a bustle and it disappeared in the 1890s.

From the 1840s onwards it was fashionable for women to have very small waists so they wore corsets. It was perhaps a precursor to cosmetic enhancements, particularly liposuction and surgical breast lift.

About 1800 women started wearing underwear for the first time. They were called drawers. Originally women wore a pair of drawers i.e. they were actually two garments, one for each leg, tied together at the top. In the late 19th century women's drawers were called knickerbockers then just knickers.

A number of inventions to do with clothing were made in the 19th century. The safety pin was invented in 1849. Henry Seely invented the electric iron in 1882 but it did not become common until the 1930s. Dry cleaning was invented in 1855. The zip fastener was invented in 1893.

In 1863 Butterick made the first paper dress pattern.

There were many famous women in the 19th century. Two of them were Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. They reformed nursing.

Elizabeth Fry played a key role in prison reform. Mary Kingsley explored parts of Africa. Ada Lovelace was a famous mathematician. Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a famous scientist. Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was famous gardener. At the end of the 19th century Josephine Cochran invented the first practical dishwasher.

Rebecca Solomon (1832-1886) and Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919) were famous artists. Marianne North (1830-1890) was an artist who travelled the world and painted more than 1,000 paintings. Another famous woman artist was Mary Cassatt (1844-1926).