Women's Rights in the 1890s

Laws/Acts
1. The Matrimonial Clauses Act 1857 - easier for women to divorce
2. The Married Women's Property Act 1870 - women could keep their earnings after marriage, and later their own property too
3. The Married Women (Maintenance in Case of Desertion) Act 1886 - if a husband left his wife, he would still have to pay maintenance for her
  1. The Guardianship of Children Act allowed women to be their children's legal guardians if the father was no longer around
Professions
1. Typically worked for low pay and in poor conditions
2. Limited professional jobs and higher education for women
3. Queen's College, London trained women teachers
4. Florence Nightingale established nursing as a respectable job and trained others
Women Couldn't Vote
1. AGAINST votes for women:
  1. Stereotyping - women should be at home and men in the public sphere
  2. 'They're not rational'
  3. Politicians thought only householders should get the vote, and hardly any women own their home
  4. Liberals didn't want rich women to vote Conservative if they were allowed the vote
2. FOR votes for women:
  1. Women's rights were improving so 'have the vote would be the natural next step'
  2. Women were just as capable as men at making sound decisions
  3. Women had already gained the vote in other countries, (e.g. New Zealand) so 'why not in Britain?'

Resource summary

	Created by izzykersley01 almost 10 years ago