Feminism and the Woman Question in Early Victorian England

Abstract

This chapter examines the history of the feminist movement and the woman question in early Victorian England. The recognition among contemporary scholars of the complexity of social and sexual changes in the 18th and early 19th centuries has been accompanied by a far more critical analysis of the relationship between the Enlightenment and the emancipation of women. Many critics questioned the extent to which the social and political thought of the Enlightenment can be seen as supporting the movement for women's emancipation.