Victorian women
Joan Perkin (Author)
This book explores what life was really like for women from birth to old age, in the 'long nineteenth century' between the French Revolution and the First World War. In their own words -- through letters, memoirs, and other contemporary sources -- they describe their childhood and education; courtship, marriage and homemaking; sex and motherhood; marital breakdown; widowhood; and their pastimes and entertainments. We fear from women whose voices have been drowned by the cacophony of stronger, often male, versions of history: the unmarried woman worker; the single mother; the prostitute; as well as those who fought for professional recognition against the regiments of the Church, Parliament and the law. This fascinating book traces the roots of the modern feminist movement further back into the kitchens, factories, and streets from which it sprang. -- From publisher's description
History
vii, 264 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780814766248, 9780814766255, 0814766242, 0814766250
31433934
What use were girls anyway?: class and the importance of gender
That won't earn a gal a living: education for girls
Thinking of England: sex, courtship and marriage
Angels in the house: marriage and domestic life
Time of their own: women's interests and entertainments
Punch and Judy: holy deadlock, separation and divorce
Turning their industry to best account: widowhood and old age
Making their own way: the lives of unmarried middle-class women
Cheap labour: the lives of unmarried working-class women
Obliged to be breadwinners: the lives of married women workers
Ladies bountiful: philanthropic, voluntary and political work
A separate species of womanhood: the demi-monde
"First published in 1993 by J. Murray ... UK"--Title page verso