The Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood

 
The industrial revolution, and the shift of labor from the home to a distinct workplace in the course of modernity, did more than simply affect the manner in which people worked.  As ‘real work’ became defined as toil exerted, only or mostly, in the workplace, be it a factory or a bank, housework became devalued.  This did little to change the man’s status in the world.  However, in the face of modern labor, the role of the woman—the housekeeper—became so cheapened, as to change her position in society almost completely.

The function of the wife at the onset of the modern era was nearly lost.  Since she did not contribute to the economic well being of her family, nor the overall good of society, because she could not take a job in the workplace, there seemed little reason for her.  However, the cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood soon evolve to fill the vacuum that practicality had left behind.

The cult of Domesticity was ideologically very simple.  Its followers essentially split the world into two halves; the public, being the masculine domain, and the private, or the feminine province.  Any woman who attempted to leave her sphere was ‘unnatural’, and dangerous to society.  This further re-enforced the labor gap that was already in place.

To rationalize the strict segregation of the sexes, the advocates of the cult of Domesticity also spoke of True Womanhood.  In their eyes, a good woman had several key qualities.  She was pious, sexually innocent, obedient to her social betters, and above all, content to remain domestic.  Effectively, the ideal woman was childlike in her dependence upon her male relatives to support her private domain.  This ‘Angel of the House’ had no desire to undermine masculine authority by attaining economic independence.  She was nearly invisible outside of the drawing room and parlor.

By the middle of the modern period, the cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood had gained widespread acceptance.  Women were removed from the public sphere, and remained a shadowy presence politically.  No longer was it permissible for a girl to seem ‘tomboyish’, or even vigorous.  In effect, till the twentieth century, women were to stay at home, content to be mistresses of their own little domestic world.

It was into such a society that Queen Victoria, future mistress of much more than just a home, was born into.[xxix]

Endnotes

[xxix] For a further looking into the subject see:
 
A good short overview of the subject
Lavender, Catherine. “The Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood.”  Woman in New York City,1890-1940.  26 May 2003. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/truewoman.html
 
An excellent primary source, the ‘it’ magazine of the era.
 
Godey’s Lady’s Book.  Ed. Hope Greenburg. April 2000.  University of Vermont. 26 May 2003. <http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/godey/godeytitle.html>