As the 19th century progressed men increasingly commuted to their place of work: the factory, shop, or office. Wives, daughters, and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties that were increasingly carried out by servants (if they could afford servants because if not, the women would carry out all of the household chores.) From the 1830s, women started to wear huge bell-shaped skirts that made it virtually impossible to clean or sweep without tumbling over.
Women did, though, require a new kind of education to prepare them for this role of ‘Angel in the House’. Rather than attracting a husband through their domestic abilities, middle-class girls were coached in what was known as ‘accomplishments’. These would be learned either at boarding school or from a resident governess if they could afford it.
If you were a rich Victorian family, your family could afford a large household filled with servants. Men were in charge of the house and did the work arrangements and women were given nice dresses and made to look as nice as possible and sometimes played music. If you were a poor Victorian family, your family could be living on the streets, or in the Workhouse, or in a poor, dirty house. The mother would be staying at home trying to cook with whatever food they had, the men would be at work and your children would actually be working! Usually as chimney sweepers. Sometimes the children would get stuck in the chimneys and no one would help them out!
Women and families differed if you were rich or poor in Victorian Britain.
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