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The Ideology of Domesticity: Regulation of the Household Economy in the Victorian Women’s Magazine

Between the 1820s-1860s, the ideology of domesticity demonstrated the rise of womanhood. This created a prevailing value system differentiating among the upper and middle classes during the 19th century. This had a huge impact on the way of life in the role of women, especially in their own homes. During this time, women in particular were heavily portrayed upon doing household duties as society of that era asserted that it was the only job they had. The idea of domesticity became so pervasive during the Victorian period in literary and representational practices. The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine also emphasized women in every aspect. Kay Boardman, the author of this volume, wanted to represent women and how life was portrayed during that era.

This exhibits that the leadership role was prevalent in the female society as it was their duty to complete their household work. The Englishwoman's Domestic magazine has been a neglected source of much interesting material on this topic.

Different periodicals portrayed a different approach to this issue. Alongside the EDM, there were also other magazines that demonstrated issues relating to household economy and domesticity. Relating to this, periodicals include, The Mother’s Magazine, The Mother’s Treasury, The British Mother’s Magazine, The British Workwoman, and The Ladies’ Treasury aimed at targeting women for their duties''. All these magazines shared the same ideology of maintaining the division of work and home by inscribing woman as the center of the home, the supreme domestic sphere.

Domestic Responsibility and the Regulation of the Household Economy was ideally more difficult for poorer people to maintain. The home was the main priority to be maintained by the women. This entailed the ‘choice of homework’ rather than ‘housework’ in the title is significant, especially through the implicit assumption that it is more useful for girls to learn domestic economy than to have a formal education. . As mentioned before, the idea of domesticity was important during the Victorian period as it symbolized what women are professed to do. Although the EDM neglected material on this topic, it still provided a basis on feminism and how women are supposed to pursue a traditional representation of how a woman is meant to be at home. The domestic sphere, which was a social phenomenon, depicts the roles of men and women of their duties during that time. The ideology of domesticity was significant as it showed the differences between the upper and middle class sector. Even still today, society deems that women should just stay at home while men make the money; however, times are different now than how it used to be.