Study On The Widowed Women Group In The Middle And Lower Classes Of The Victorian Middle Class

Victorian times is a period of great economic,political and social development in Britain,and it is one of the most brilliant times in Britain.With the development of Britain,widows left by accidental and non-accidental deaths of men constituted a huge special vulnerable group,which urgently needed social help and relief,However,due to the long-term infiltration of liberalism and the psychological particularity of middle-class widowed women,the government's intervention and assistance to widowed women was extremely limited.The bill issued by the House of Commons was mainly aimed at specific occupations and special types of work,such as military widows,which is mandatory,fixed and single.The small-scale government relief obviously did not meet the needs of the group.As the main body of the group relief,the non-governmental forces made up for the deficiencies of the government relief by means of flexible,diversified and targeted relief methods.This paper takes Victorian widowed women as the research object,and sets them in the background of the society to observe the widowed women group in British society at that time.The paper is divided into four parts:The first chapter makes a comprehensive and detailed investigation on the family relationship,inheritance and debt,employment situation and remarriage of widowed women,showing the dilemma that widowed women face in raising children alone after losing their husbands.First of all,in the family relationship of widowed women,positive and negative family relations coexist.Under the premise that relatives'help to widowed women did not affect their own comfortable and stable life,this kind of help had conditions and limitations,and some women benefited from it.Secondly,in terms of inheritance and debt,the paper adopts the method of case study to investigate the obstacles they encountered in inheritance,and then shows the twists that widowed women got assets in this period.Thirdly,in terms of employment,through investigating human resource demand of traditional and emerging occupations,and the number of widowed women in employment and industries in Glasgow.Although they were at a relative disadvantage compared to unmarried women.Yet their employment ratio had been improving.Finally,when it comes to remarriage,the utilitarian attraction of marriage had decreased,the influence of Christian culture and the opposition of children.In addition,the number of remarriages had decreased in this period,so remarriage was no longer the best choice for most people.The second chapter mainly studies the government-led relief activities.Government relief is mandatory,single and fixed.It is a kind of top-down relief activity dominated by the official system and followed by the system.The main measures included military widow's pension,Greenwich hospital fund and national annuity.These measures gave some widowed women help,but not all in need.Compared with the civil forces,the reasons why the government relief is in a non-dominant position are as follows:first,it had been infiltrated by the liberalism for a long time,and it had insufficient understanding of the poverty problem of this group.Second,middle-class women have a unique sense of community,with a natural awareness of privacy and self-esteem.Third,the idea of helping the poor lagged behind the national conditions at that time.The third chapter mainly studies civil relief activities,including secular and religious aspects.Compared with government assistance,non-governmental assistance is flexible,targeted and extensive.It was organized by members of the society spontaneously and voluntarily.Its form and object were not strictly defined,and it was entirely decided by members themselves.On the secular side,the emergence of individual and civil relief organizations during this period did share their burden.Civil organizations provided various kinds of relief projects for widowed women.Voluntary public assistance is flexible,targeted and easy to operate,and can meet the specific needs of widowed women.The living settlement fund not only provided one-time benefits,but also provided them with vocational skills training,housing rental,job opportunities and so on.Although the charity society did not provide direct assistance,as a third-party investigation institution,it has integrated the charity resources in the UK to the greatest extent,provided a way for communication between the rescuers and the rescued,and its investigation method has provided practical experience for modern social work.In terms of the church,influenced by the teachings of the bible,church aid has always been in the forefront of social aid.During this period,evangelical movement,church asylum and religious charities also paid great attention to the survival of widowed women.Evangelical Movement paid attention to the combination of spiritual and material relief and advocated the love of god and the power of Christ to encourage them to get out of trouble.Asylums provided basic housing,food security and shelter for the poor.Cholmondeley Charities provided individual grants and pensions.In general,non-governmental assistance played a major role in the relief system and can better meet the diversified demands of widowed women.The fourth chapter examines the impact of the above rescue system,including positive and negative impact.To be sure,the government and civil activities played a corresponding role,which eased the plight of the widowed women group and improved the economic and social status of this group.They had accumulated valuable experience for the social assistance system and the construction of the welfare state.However,due to the unique class attributes and group psychological characteristics of the middle class,the charitable assistance in this period failed to achieve the desired results.The investigation into the individual family status and economic status of widowed women before the charitable assistance violated the individual privacy,and there had acquaintance relations,improper voting and other behaviors in the investigation process,which also arouse the resistance of this group and affect the relief effect.The conclusion is a high summary of the previous four chapters.In terms of assistance to widowed women groups,the government,which should be the main body of assistance,gave way to the civil forces.civil forces shouldered the heavy burden of assistance and became the mainstay of assistance to widowed women groups in this period.Therefore,it can be seen that in the 19th century,the function and role of the British government and the civil forces were mismatched,showing the situation of weak government and strong civil forces.