Victorian London's Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day

(Hardback)

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Through a detailed description of the life and activities of the middle-class married woman of London between 1875 and 1900, this study reveals how housewives unwittingly became engines for change as the new century neared. In marked contrast to the stereotypical depictions of Victorian women in literature and on television, Draznin reveals a woman seldom seen: the stay-at-home housewife whose activities were not much different than those of her counterparts today. By exploring her daily activities, how she cleaned her home, disciplined her children, managed her servants, stretched a limited budget, and began to indulge herself, one discovers the human dimension of women who lived more than a century ago. While most studies of this period consider values, aspirations, and attitudes, this book concentrates on actions, what these women did all day, to provide readers with a new perspective on Victorian life. Late-Victorian London was a surprisingly modern city with a public face of well-lit streets, an excellent underground railway system, and extended municipal services. In the home, gas stoves were replacing coal ranges and household appliances were becoming more common. Having both money to spend and a strong incentive to buy the new laborsaving devices, ready-to-wear clothing, and other manufactured products, the middle-class matron's resistance to change gave way to a rising consumer culture. Despite her nearly exclusive preoccupation with home and family, these urban women became agents for the modernization of Britain.

Reviews

.,."accomplishes what it sets out to do: describe and assess what Victorian London's Middle-Class Married Woman..."did all day." Perhaps most interestingly, Draznin goes on to argue that her subject's activities had broad implications for the larger society...she has provided a solid foundation from which to explore such matters further."-Albion
.,."fascinating reading....will be of interest to gender historians and general readers with an interest in the minutiae of the Victorian age. Anyone who doubts the achievements of feminism has only to read this book to realise how far women's lives have changed for the better over the past hundred years."-The Times Higher Education Supplement
...accomplishes what it sets out to do: describe and assess what Victorian London's Middle-Class Married Woman..."did all day." Perhaps most interestingly, Draznin goes on to argue that her subject's activities had broad implications for the larger society...she has provided a solid foundation from which to explore such matters further.-Albion
...fascinating reading....will be of interest to gender historians and general readers with an interest in the minutiae of the Victorian age. Anyone who doubts the achievements of feminism has only to read this book to realise how far women's lives have changed for the better over the past hundred years.-The Times Higher Education Supplement
[D]raznin offers many examples and ideas that are excellent food for thought....This is a good book to read for a background of modern scholarship on the Victorian times, and on the contemporary views of historical women....[T]his book demands to be read and considered by all Modern Victorians.-The Victorian and Edwardian Ladies League
While researching pioneering nineteenth-century feminists, Yaffa Claire Draznin realized that she was in fact more interested in the unobtrusive lives' of surburban London housewives. In Victorian London's Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day, she seeks to re-create the fabric of these lives--what schooling they had, what their husbands did, what size their houses were, and what kind of clutter those houses contained (stuffed birds, wax flowers, and photograph albums were favorites). Draznin finds that housewives served as financial managers of the household and employers of servants, which gave them significant social clout. As a result, their tastes and priorities--they were keen on labor-saving devices and luxury items--helped shape consumerism as we know it today.-The New Yorker
"Draznin offers many examples and ideas that are excellent food for thought....This is a good book to read for a background of modern scholarship on the Victorian times, and on the contemporary views of historical women....This book demands to be read and considered by all Modern Victorians."-The Victorian and Edwardian Ladies League
..."accomplishes what it sets out to do: describe and assess what Victorian London's Middle-Class Married Woman..."did all day." Perhaps most interestingly, Draznin goes on to argue that her subject's activities had broad implications for the larger society...she has provided a solid foundation from which to explore such matters further."-Albion
..."fascinating reading....will be of interest to gender historians and general readers with an interest in the minutiae of the Victorian age. Anyone who doubts the achievements of feminism has only to read this book to realise how far women's lives have changed for the better over the past hundred years."-The Times Higher Education Supplement
"[D]raznin offers many examples and ideas that are excellent food for thought....This is a good book to read for a background of modern scholarship on the Victorian times, and on the contemporary views of historical women....[T]his book demands to be read and considered by all Modern Victorians."-The Victorian and Edwardian Ladies League
"While researching pioneering nineteenth-century feminists, Yaffa Claire Draznin realized that she was in fact more interested in the unobtrusive lives' of surburban London housewives. In Victorian London's Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day, she seeks to re-create the fabric of these lives--what schooling they had, what their husbands did, what size their houses were, and what kind of clutter those houses contained (stuffed birds, wax flowers, and photograph albums were favorites). Draznin finds that housewives served as financial managers of the household and employers of servants, which gave them significant social clout. As a result, their tastes and priorities--they were keen on labor-saving devices and luxury items--helped shape consumerism as we know it today."-The New Yorker

Author Bio

YAFFA CLAIRE DRAZNIN wrote this book while a Visiting Scholar of History at the University of Chicago 1996-1999./e She is an independent British Historian affiliated with the National Coalition of Independent Scholars, who returned to academia after 25 years as a published author and editor. She also writes Victorian murder mysteries.