Skip to Main Content

CMP102 - Composition 2 - Sherf

Researching Women in the Nineteenth Century

Victorian wedding photo
"Wedding Photo" by Josef Novak is licensed under CC-BY-ND 4.0

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Trifles by Susan Glaspell yield the thesis of Victorian housewives being oppressed politically, economically and psychologically. 

Women during this time were experiencing an awakening to the limits of their independence. Exploring the oppression and accomplishments of these women can be done in a variety of ways. When searching for information in databases, it's important to try a variety of search terms and be flexible.

While the term "Victorian women" may yield some results, the word Victorian may skew results more to British literature. Try switching "Victorian" for "nineteenth century", "1800's", "antebellum", "Reconstruction", or something similar.

Some search terms to consider
Victorian women Marriage Patriarchy
Gender roles Divorce Sexism
Social repression Wife Feminism
Suffrage Social conditioning Identity

 

Some other search terms to consider...

Women / Woman

Ladies / Lady

Wife

Daughter

Mother

Widow

Female

Men / Man

Gentlemen / Gentleman

Husband

Father

Son

Patriarch

Nineteenth century

19th century

Nineteenth-century

1800’s /Eighteen hundreds

Victorian

Antebellum

Reconstruction

Gilded age

Progressive era

Industrial Revolution

Marriage

Married

Matrimony

Wedlock

Common law

Divorce

Separation

Coverture

William Blackstone

Separate spheres

Feme covert

Common law

Legal existence

Legal doctrine

Financial / Finance

Economic

Inheritance

Property

Ownership

Employment

Independence

Wealth

Income

Political/ Politics

Suffrage

Voting rights

Disenfranchisement

Citizenry

Psychological

Repression

Independence

Freedom

Power

Oppression

Patronizing

Employment

Income

Earnings

Salary

Wages

Business

Allowance

Profession

Job

Prosperity

Freedom

Emancipation

Autonomy

Independence

Authority

Control

Command

Enfranchisement

Power

Self-determination

Choice

Free will

Options

Liberty

Voice/Say/Vote

Volition

Rights

Dignity

Permissions

Privileges

Entitlements

Legitimate

Virtues

Control

Repression / Repress

Rule

Command

Dominion / Domination

Authority

Power

Jurisdiction

Manage

Supervision

Protection

Constrain

Discipline

Suppression / Suppress

Subjugation

Subjection

Hegemony

Reign

Patriarchy

 

victorian whitby
By Francis Sutcliffe (1853-1941) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons - Whitby during Victorian times.

Access to many of the database links on this guide requires NSCC authentication - users must sign in with their NSCC My Northshore (formerly Pipeline) username & password

Synthesis Matrix