Critical scholars have pointed to the status of women in the Victorian era as an illustration of the striking discrepancy of the United Kingdom's national power and wealth when compared to its social conditions.

Feminist ideas spread among the educated middle classes, discriminatory laws were repealed, and the women's suffrage movement gained momentum in the last years of the Victorian era.

[6] Scholarly discussions of Victorian women's sexual promiscuity was embodied in legislation (Contagious Diseases Acts) and medical discourse and institutions (London Lock Hospital and Asylum).

[10] By the Victorian era, the concept of "pater familias", meaning the husband as head of the household and moral leader of his family, was firmly entrenched in British culture.

There is something demanded of the lord and master and if he fails in his part, domestic misery must follow" (published in 1883 in Our Manners and Social Customs by Daphne Dale) was common in many publications of the time.

By the end of the century, the "New Woman" was riding a bicycle, wearing bloomers, signing petitions, supporting worldwide mission activities, and talking about the vote.

"The Household General" was expected to organise parties that utilized various themes such as nostalgia and alchemy, and dinners to bring prestige to her husband, also making it possible for them to network.

A lady paying a visit may remove her boa or neckerchief; but neither shawl nor bonnet....[17]Advice books on housekeeping and the duties of an ideal wife were plentiful during the Victorian era, and sold well among the middle class, though the burden of arranging parties were quite difficult.

Washing clothing and linens would usually be done one day a week, scrubbed by hand in a large zinc or copper tub, which was believed to promote sanitation and keep away demonic influences.

These property restrictions made it difficult or impossible for a woman to leave a failed marriage, or to exert any control over her finances if her husband was incapable or unwilling to do so on her behalf.

The organisation that became known as the Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children hired inspectors who brought prosecutions of the worst cases.

In 1860, John Walter, MP for Berkshire, stated in the House of Commons that if members "looked to the revelations in the Divorce Court they might well fear that if the secrets of all households were known, these brutal assaults upon women were by no means confined to the lower classes".

[24] A strong deterrent to middle-class or aristocratic wives seeking legal recourse, or divorce, was the social stigma and ostracization that would follow such revelations in a public trial.

[25] Dr. William Acton's work encapsulates how restrictive beliefs of morality restrained sexual agency and contributed to the creation of gendered hierarchies in Victorian England.

[25] The first lock hospital was established in England by William Bromfield in 1747 as a charitable institution to cure the physical aspects of sexually transmitted diseases attributed to prostitution.

[26] Paget rejected oppressive and gendered beliefs about hysteria and believed that men were more likely to suffer from emotional fits and accused some medical professionals of fear-mongering to repress sexual agency.

Josephine Butler was a women's rights activist who fought to repeal the Acts, and whose efforts failed when opposition mounted and the initiative fractured her own base of supporters.

Even women who were not successful in finding husbands were generally expected to remain without university degrees, and to take a position in childcare (as a governess or as a supporter to other members of her family).

[30] Working-class women often had occupations to meet the financial needs of their household, and to ensure family income in the event that a husband became sick, injured, or died.

The Select Committee of the House of Commons defined sweated industries in 1890 as "work carried on for inadequate wages and for excessive hours in unsanitary conditions".

Many Victorians thought the doctor's profession belonged only to the male sex and a woman should not intrude upon this area, but stay with the conventions the will of God has assigned to women.

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was an important figure in renewing the traditional image of the nurse as the self-sacrificing, ministering angel—the 'Lady with the lamp', spreading comfort as she passed among the wounded.

[43][44] Some 200 seaside resorts emerged thanks to cheap hotels and inexpensive railway fares, widespread banking holidays and the fading of many religious prohibitions against secular activities on Sundays.

By 1902, The Girl's Empire magazine ran a series of articles on "How to Be Strong", proclaiming, "The old-fashioned fallacies regarding health, diet, exercise, dress, &c., have nearly all been exploded, and to-day women are discarding the old ideas and methods, and entering into the new régime with a zest and vigour which bodes well for the future.

[43] Fearful of unleashing and creating a nation of 'over-sexed' females, some physicians urged colleagues to encourage women to eschew 'modern dangers' and continue to pursue traditional leisure pursuits.

Physicians turned their attention to the use of corsets and determined that they caused several medical problems: compression of the thorax, restricted breathing, organ displacement, poor circulation, and prolapsed uterus.

He pointed out that a young working-class woman was likely to spend a large part of her earnings on fine hats and shawls, while "her feet are improperly protected, and she wears no flannel petticoat or woollen stockings".

By the 1880s, milliners were tested by the competition among women to top their outfits with the most creative (and extravagant) hats, designed with expensive materials such as silk flowers and exotic plumes such as ostrich and peacock.

Model, actress and socialite Lillie Langtry took London by storm in the 1870s, attracting notice for wearing simple black dresses to social events.

English-speaking Canadian writers became popular, especially Catharine Parr Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie, middle-class English settlers who published memoirs of their lives as pioneers.