The Women of England in a Century of Social Change 1815=1914

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY IS TO PRESENT A USEFUL catalog of sources for studying the social position of women in England during the nineteenth century. ¹ It has the additional purpose of suggesting that there may be considerable value in patterning fresh alternatives to the popular themes of “emancipation of women” and “feminism” in pursuing the subject. As an illustration, one line of inquiry that appears to warrant greater attention involves a close questioning of the relationships existing between the various social changes that transformed national life in Victorian England and the changes that occurred in the social roles and occupations undertaken by English women during that period. This approach focuses not only upon the description of women’s roles and occupations in their immediate milieu, but also upon the meaning and function of these roles in the wider matrix of English society.