A new Eve?

In the years before 1880 and 1914, the debate on the ‘woman question’ both intensified and diversified. Under the impact of the rise of socialism and the emergence of an organised labour movement, governing circles began to show appreciably more concern with the ‘social question’, which in turn, when focused on the plight of female workers, generated further debate on the ‘woman question’. ¹ The simultaneous rise of feminism, set alongside legal changes such as the reintroduction of divorce in 1884 and the opening up of secondary and higher education to women, convinced many contemporaries that they were witnesses to the advent of a ‘new woman’ —one who was ready to turn her back on the traditional domestic ideal in favour of a career and the pursuit of individual self-fulfilment.