During the Victorian era, 90% of women got married and were expected to be wives and mothers. As married women, they ran households, cared for children, cooked, cleaned, and produced goods for the family. Marriage contracts treated women like servants under their husbands. Divorce was rare, occurring in only 10% of marriages. As dependents of their husbands, married women could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office. By the late 1800s, industrialization and new jobs were pulling women outside the home and workplace gender norms were changing.

1. Roles of the Married Woman in the Victorian Era By: Brooke Taylor