Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain
Munby's Views of Women and Children Colliers
Arthur Joseph Munby was an educated person with a
discerning eye, on the colliery scene. Similarly,
George Orwell found the collieries and the miners of
interest. Orwell wrote a small essay about the mines
("Down The Mine").
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Just a small, but pertinent note. In many of the photographs
provided here, the women are often dressed in either their
best clothing, or even in borrowed clothing. These exploited
women often were dressed to match their incomes. Thus often,
the reality was that the women could not afford shoes to wear.
In addition, the photograph "Two Views of Women"
(below, bottom right) doesn't quite
bring out the reality of the gender discrimination that existed.
Weathy women dressed well, attractively, had their hair taken
care of, etc - indeed: they were the image of women that the
society portrayed (propaganda). Poor women of a lower class
were not well dressed, often were sick or had poor physiques
(due to poor diet) or masculine physiques (due to their heavy
labour). These working class woman did not appear as women were
portrayed in the popular propaganda. Thus these women were
viewed as "masculine"! The women of these lower classes
rejected the gender propaganda of the day, thus were looked
upon as coarse as well. Such working class women had a
mentality that no longer was acceptable in "society", they
were thus viewed as "immoral". For example, such working class
women rejected marriage as a form of "domestic slavery".
Click to get a different perspective.
What does the reader think the views of Charles Dickens were of
women? Does Agnes (David Copperfield) or Nancy (Oliver Twist)
betray a bias towards any particular class viewpoint?
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