Gender Roles in the Victorian Era

In the Victorian Era, men were considered the active agents, who expended energy, while women were sedentary, storing and conserving energy. Victorian theories of evolution believed that these feminine and masculine attributes traced back to the lowest forms of life. A dichotomy of temperaments defined feminine and masculine: an anabolic nature, which nurtured, versus a katabolic nature, which released energy, respectively. Such beliefs laid the groundwork for, or rather arose from, the separation of spheres for men and women. According to this model, since men only concerned themselves with fertilization, they could also spend energies in other arenas, allowing for "the male capacity for abstract reason...along with an attachment to the idea of abstract justice...[which] was a sign of highly-evolved life." On the other hand, woman's heavy role in pregnancy, menstruation (considered a time of illness, debilitation, and temporary insanity), and child-rearing left very little energy left for other pursuits. As a result, woman's position in society came from biological evolution--she had to stay at home in order to conserve her energy, while the man could and needed to go out and hunt or forage. This belief let to the theory of "separate spheres," meaning, the women controlled the world of the home and the men controlled the world outside it. Although regarded as a practice which venerated women, in actuality it forced them in to social and economic subservience.

Due to the fact that a woman's place was in the home, motherhood was considered “the crowning achievement of a woman’s life.” Marriage signified a woman's maturity and respectability, but motherhood was confirmation that she had entered the world of womanly virtue and female fulfillment. For a woman not to become a mother meant she was liable to be labeled inadequate, a failure, or in some way abnormal. Motherhood was expected of a married woman, and the childless single woman was a figure to be pitied. She was often encouraged to find work caring for children--as a governess or a nursery maid--presumably to compensate her for her loss.

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Sources: The Victorian Web, BBC