Victorian Women - Lower Class

Lower class women were not treated very fairly at all.  They normally wore handed down clothes and often (as servants) ate the left over food of the upper class people.  It was extremely likely foe unmarried women to be classed as paupers.  Upon a fathers or husbands death, women would be left barely any money or land.  Money would mostly have been given to the oldest son or another close male relative.  For servants and wives housework took a lot of energy, there days would often consist of sewing machines, mechanical wringers and a cast iron stove.  Throughout the day women that tended to their own houses would make clothes, care for the sick and grow their own foods that the family would eat.  Women would often sell their produce to other families too.  Jobs for the lower class women would often include barmaids, chambermaids and factory workers.  Working in the factories was seen to be better than working in domestic services.  it was a more social job and the hours were much less.