Jad Adams explores the lives of our female ancestors who broke down barriers at the end of the 19th century
Was a woman in your tree known for bicycling, smoking, living independently and earning her own money? If so, she was a New Woman.
The late 19th century saw a major shift in the way that middle-class women were viewed. The New Woman was not waiting at home for a suitor to take over the position previously occupied by her father. She was out in public, living on her own and choosing her own relationships. Her entry into the workplace and her defiant attitudes contributed to changes in literature, fashion, travel, commercial consumption and personal relationships.
The UK had almost one million girls and women in excess of men in the 1891 census, and an extra 1.25 million in 1901. The so-called ‘surplus woman problem’ was caused by the comparatively high male mortality rate, because of their more dangerous jobs, and because so many men emigrated to make a life for themselves in the colonies or were abroad as colonial administrators or soldiers. There were not enough men to go round, even if marriage had been the goal of all women.
This coincided with the working through of ideas of independence that had gained ground during the 19th century. Women had been going to university since the 1860s, and for decades had been working in such fields as medicine and law although usually forbidden professional qualifications. By the 1890s, independence was an expectation for many ordinary women who had to make a living, not just high-flying feminists.
NEW OCCUPATIONS
The most obvious evidence of being a New Woman in the census records is occupation. They were working in areas of new technology or rapidly expanding workplaces in such roles as telephonists and typists (although the word was not yet coined, so they were known as ‘typewriters’); in photographic studios; and as illustrators for the burgeoning periodicals market, drawing products for sale, and illustrations to accompany fiction. Writing that fiction was another growth industry with cheap magazines meeting an inexhaustible supply of romantic or thrilling stories for a working class that was now, thanks to the 1870 Elementary Education Act, fully literate.
New Women also worked in traditional roles such as teaching; there were almost three times as many female teachers as males in 1891.
