A Study Of Women's Life And Work In Britain During The 18～(th) And 19～(th) Centuries

This dissertation, in the light of the gender theory studies women's individual experiences. It also offers an analysis of the relationship between industrialization and women's changing social status, so as to comprehend the rich connotations of the historical development of industrialization in Britain.The 18^th and 19^th centuries were transitional period from agricultural society to industrialized society in Britain. Inherited the traditional social role, British women were further subordinated and marginalized. The economic and social transformation did enable them to have different life-styles and personal experience. The time they took for breeding children was much less, and the pains from abortion and contraception failure were less. Besides, more opportunities were made available owing to the change of the employment structure, and women's rights were safeguarded by the national policies. All these exerted a profound influence on women's experiences. However, such factors as politics, legislation, tradition, sex discrimination, and economic patterns still contributed to the inequality between men and women.This dissertation is divided into three parts. Part one deals with the inequality between man and woman during the process of establishing the marriage relation, the vicissitudes in the period of breeding children, the unequal treatments received from divorce taboo when their marriage breaks up, and the active and passive...