Women

• Women were seen as subordinate in a patriarchal culture.
• Middle class women were felt to be objects for paternalistic treatment by men.
• Working class women were virtually invisible.
• The essential inferiority of women to men was challenged by an articulate and persistent minority that increased in effectiveness as the century wore on.
• "The Angel in the House" was a popular Victorian ideal of femininity that depicted women as pure, submissive, and self-sacrificing. This stereotype was often used to justify limiting women's roles in society to domestic duties and child-rearing.
• Women were denied sexual feelings and were subject to double standards - they were not permitted the same kind of sexual freedom as Victorian men.
• The nature of women’s roles began to be widely debated in the last quarter of the century - undermining of patriarchal notions and legislation which improved women’s rights.