Victorian Studies: Politics & Society:Why do early to mid-nineteenth century feminists concentrate on law, education and work rather than political rights?

It can be seen that early to mid-nineteenth century feminists tended to concentrate on issues of law, education and work rather than political rights for women because of the restrictions imposed by the dominant British domestic ideology of separate spheres for men and women. Rather than opposing the ideals of society, most feminists tended to manipulate them to their own advantage, in order to gain access to the public sphere and to influence society in alternative ways.

What the term ‘feminist’ means when applied to the Victorian period is debatable. As Caine comments, the word was not coined until the end of the nineteenth century and because of this it can be viewed as problematic when applied to the Victorians, because it is not a word that they would have used to describe themselves. Some historians use it to describe Victorians who were active within the women’s movement, whilst others also apply it to a wide range of female activists and writers who had little to do...