Role Of Men & WomenIn The 19th Century

By Sean Larke & Trinh Ngo

Question Year 2000

• Man for the field and woman for the hearths:Man for the sword and for the needle she:Man with the head and women form the heart:Man to command and woman to obey:

How accurately do the lines of poetry above reflect the gender roles for European men and women in the late nineteenth century?

Upper-Class

• Stay at home wives

• Care for children

• Household chores

• Hired lower class servants

• Still dominated by men.

Middle-Class

• More job opportunities

• Independent

• Women’s Rights Movements

• Strong influence over the family

Lower-Class

• Worked outside home

• Industrialization

• New Inventions- Telephone switchboard- Typewriter

• Supportive of family.

Conclusion

• The poem is neither right nor wrong because the dominance of the male was different in all the social classes. In the lower class, the women had to find work to help support the family. In the middle class, woman also had jobs, but were more independent while still supporting their families. These working classes of women had so much influence over their family that most men would give their earnings to the wife for handling. The upper class men were still dominant over the women because the women did not need to work and therefore was confined to household chores.