Curran, Cynthia. "Private Women, Public Needs: Middle-Class Widows in Victorian England." Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies. 25.2 (1993): 217-236. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4051453
This essay looks at the social ramifications of being a middle class widow in the Victorian Era. The essay looks at middle class widows who did not come from wealthy families and who were not provided for by their husbands after death: women who needed to fend for themselves once their husbands were deceased. The essay argues that widows, rather than spinsters or wives, tells more about “the workings of gender, class, and power in Victorian society” (218). Middle class widows faced the difficulty of being socially confined to the domestic sphere, but needing to operate within the public sphere in order to take care of themselves. Women in those days were expected to be wives, and were not able to simply soldier off and get a job to support themselves and their children. The essay addresses some of the issues of social structure that effected widows, such as gender, class, the fiscal economy, the banking system, and women’s legal rights at the time. There were few professions that were appropriate for women of the time to take part in, namely nursing and teaching. Legally, women faced issues as they could not legally own their own property and could not make legal decisions for themselves. Gender inequality and the separate spheres of Victorian society made it quite difficult for middle class widows to care for themselves and survive. [Lovell]
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4051453
This essay looks at the social ramifications of being a middle class widow in the Victorian Era. The essay looks at middle class widows who did not come from wealthy families and who were not provided for by their husbands after death: women who needed to fend for themselves once their husbands were deceased. The essay argues that widows, rather than spinsters or wives, tells more about “the workings of gender, class, and power in Victorian society” (218). Middle class widows faced the difficulty of being socially confined to the domestic sphere, but needing to operate within the public sphere in order to take care of themselves. Women in those days were expected to be wives, and were not able to simply soldier off and get a job to support themselves and their children. The essay addresses some of the issues of social structure that effected widows, such as gender, class, the fiscal economy, the banking system, and women’s legal rights at the time. There were few professions that were appropriate for women of the time to take part in, namely nursing and teaching. Legally, women faced issues as they could not legally own their own property and could not make legal decisions for themselves. Gender inequality and the separate spheres of Victorian society made it quite difficult for middle class widows to care for themselves and survive. [Lovell]