19th century oppression

Today I am teaching my class about 19th century oppression in Victorian England. A few things I find fascinating:

1857: The Divorce Act was passed (women could divorce - only on grounds of desertion or cruelty)
1869: the UK grants UNmarried women who are householders the right to vote in local elections
1894: UK expands women's voting rights to married women in local elections
1918: UK gives a full vote to women of age 30 and older and men age 21 and older

attributes by which a woman judged herself and was judged by society:
four virtues: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity
- without them she was incomplete, and with them she was promised happiness
- religion was valued because it did not take a woman away from her home
- women were warned not to let their intellectual pursuits taken them away from god
- purity - without it she was a "fallen woman"

"fallen woman" - a woman who strays from her expected role (ex. those who work outside of the home, prostitute, governess, dancer, unmarried, independent...)

practice of gynecology was developed during the 19th c.
- women's healthcare was removed from midwives
- women's bodies were now under the control of male doctors
- the term "stirrups" came into use after 1860 (this at a time when women were compared to animals and especially horses who needed to be tamed)