Think some modern politicians have shown a bad attitude toward women lately? The nineteenth century was packed with horrible things done to the fairer sex, many of which would be called abuse today—but back then they were just… normal. Here are ten ways Victorians institutionalized cruelty against their womenfolk. We’ve come a long way, baby … yet after a century and a half there’s still work to be done.
1 Horrible Things: Male Midwives and Childbirth
Victorian hospitals hired “male midwives,” or accoucheurs, to attend to laboring ladies. The practice was a disaster. Doctors roamed wards with blood‑stained sleeves, unwashed hands, and even a stray placenta tucked into their coat pockets. Unsurprisingly, women often fell victim to childbed fever—puerperal fever—an infection that caused a slow, agonizing death. Up to nine out of every hundred women caught the disease, and as many as three of those would die from septicemia. Some physicians hinted that simple hand‑washing could slash infection rates, but the idea was largely dismissed.
2 Forced Insanity Declarations
Throughout much of the nineteenth century a husband, father, or other male authority could have a woman declared insane with little more than two doctors signing a certificate—no examination required. A man’s testimony alone could lock a female relative away indefinitely. While some women truly suffered from post‑partum depression or other mental illnesses, many were imprisoned for merely disagreeing with the status quo—whether they advocated for suffrage, suffered from epilepsy, were labeled hysterical, or were accused of infidelity. Treatments ranged from the merely crude to the outright cruel. Doctors even feared that female patients might develop “erotomania” or hyper‑sexuality, prompting further invasive measures.
3 No Property Rights for Married Women
Before the Married Women’s Property Acts of 1870 and 1884, a married woman owned nothing of her own. Any wages she earned, gifts she received, or inheritance she might have been bequeathed automatically became her husband’s property. She could not buy, sell, or lease land or a business in her own name. Even a dowry could only be earmarked for her personal use if a prenuptial agreement—rarely granted—allowed it. The law treated a woman as owning nothing, not even the clothes on her back. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that Britain began to recognize a wife’s legal rights, and the United States didn’t see comparable legislation until around 1900.
4 Inheritance Laws Favoring Men
Until 1925 in Britain, a woman who inherited a relative’s estate found herself barred from real property—land, houses, or estates—if a male heir existed. She could only receive personal items such as jewelry, furniture, or clothing. Entailed property, bound by strict legal stipulations, could be passed only to male heirs, even distant ones. When a woman did manage to inherit a valuable estate, a male trustee usually controlled the assets, deciding when and how she could access any benefits—unless she was married, in which case her husband assumed control.
5 Divorce and Its Harsh Consequences
Early in the nineteenth century, obtaining a divorce in England required a private Act of Parliament—an arduous and expensive process. Later, men could divorce their wives on grounds of infidelity, but women faced a double standard. In 1853 Parliament passed a law that set limits on the amount of force a man could legally use against his wife—far from banning abuse, it merely outlined boundaries for abusers. When a woman finally secured a divorce—typically on grounds of cruelty, incest, abandonment, bigamy, or infidelity—she was usually left penniless. Moreover, courts routinely awarded child custody to fathers until roughly 1878.
6 Women Treated as Non‑Persons
Well into the twentieth century, women were legally considered non‑persons. They could not open a bank account in their own name, purchase birth control, vote, sue anyone in court, sign contracts, or make independent medical decisions. Rape was still blamed on the victim, and educational opportunities remained scarce, even for the upper class. Society expected women to tend the home, bear children, and obey strict social codes. Physical activity was discouraged; some physicians even warned that the “pernicious bicycle” might make women “over‑sexed” because they had to straddle the saddle.
7 Contagious Diseases Prevention Acts
By the 1860s the British government realized that venereal disease was crippling soldiers and sailors. In 1864 the first Contagious Diseases Prevention Act was passed, targeting women alone. Any woman suspected of prostitution—regardless of age or evidence—could be seized, taken to a police station, and forced to undergo a humiliating physical examination without a warrant. Police could arrest a twelve‑year‑old or an eighty‑year‑old on a jealous boyfriend’s word alone, subjecting her to what amounted to a painful sexual assault. The law disproportionately punished working‑class and impoverished women.
8 Limited Employment and Forced Prostitution
Victorian society offered few respectable jobs for women. Upper‑ and middle‑class ladies were never expected to work, while lower‑class women survived in factories, domestic service, or home‑based industries like shirt‑sewing and paper‑flower making—often for starvation wages. Many turned to prostitution; in London, estimates suggested one in nine women sold herself to make ends meet. Factory work was no sanctuary either: long hours, hazardous conditions, scant health or safety protections, and unfair wages were the norm.
9 Denial of the Right to Vote
Men of the nineteenth century concocted a litany of excuses to keep women from the ballot: claims that women weren’t interested in politics, were mentally inferior, emotionally unstable, or that their proper place was in the home. Suffragettes who went on hunger strikes after arrest were strapped down and force‑fed—a horrific violation masquerading as a medical procedure. When investigative journalist W. T. Stead exposed the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” revealing that a girl could be bought for as little as £5, the scandal highlighted the rampant sexual exploitation of young girls. Brothel keepers bought girls as young as twelve, while corrupt police and clergy turned a blind eye.
10 Child Trafficking and the Maiden Tribute
The latter part of the nineteenth century saw a shocking revelation: it was shockingly easy and cheap—just £5—to purchase a female child for sexual purposes. Wealthy men would buy adolescent girls, often as young as twelve or thirteen, from impoverished families, consigning them to a life of sexual degradation and slavery. Corrupt police and clergymen ignored the trade until W. T. Stead’s groundbreaking exposé forced the nation to confront the grim reality of child prostitution, which had been hidden in plain sight.
As you can see, ladies endured a great deal in the nineteenth century. While women have gained significant ground in many first‑world nations since then, full equality still remains elusive in the twenty‑first century.