Women Rights

During the whole of the nineteenth century, women had no political rights though there had been some movement in other areas to advance the rights of women. In 1891, women could not be forced to live with husbands unless they wished to. Now the issue of gender equality is openly discussed in Britain and laws have been passed which help to maintain equality. In 1857, women could divorce husbands who were cruel to them or husbands who had left them. If a woman left her husband for whatever reason, it would have been very difficult for her to keep herself and children simply because the attitude of Victorian Britain was that women should stay at home and look after their husbands. These were very important laws which advanced the rights of women. The culture of the time meant that very few women were skilled in any obvious profession and, therefore, there were few jobs that paid well for women during the nineteenth century. This has not always been the case. In 1870, women were allowed to keep money they had earned. In 1839, a law was passed which stated that if a marriage broke down and the parents separated, children under seven years of age should stay with their mother. However, they were good laws on paper.