The Ideology of Separate Gender Spheres
The Ideology of Separate Gender Spheres
This chapter considers the intellectual forces that came to place women in the situation of remaining in the home looking out on the world of male activity. It discusses the ideology or set of ideas that contributed to the widespread social outlook among the middle and upper classes across the Western world during the nineteenth century—that the lives of men and women by nature pertained to distinct social spheres. In examining this set of ideas, it emphasizes that there was considerable discrepancy between the ideals and realities of the lives of women and the ideology of the separate spheres. Furthermore, much of this outlook informed the lives of middle-class women and what were regarded as respectable working-class women. There were millions of very poor women and women living in rural areas upon whom these ideas had only a minimal impact.
Keywords: gender roles, middle-class women, upper class, social sphere, working-class women, nineteenth century
Yale Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
