The gender divide was significant.
Unknown Author/Wikimedia Commons
Unknown Author/Wikimedia Commons
Victorian England was hardly the only society that treated men and women very differently, but the Victorians took this to extremes. The “doctrine of separate spheres” ensured that men and women were treated differently from birth and pushed towards different occupations later in life.
In general, men were seen as belonging in the public sphere, while women were viewed as being dependent and private. Men were to be the breadwinners, while women were expected to be homemakers.