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The Raising of Good British Citizens – British Nationalism and Gender

The ultimate goal in marriage during the regency era and previous was the rearing of children, with an emphasis on the creation of good British citizens, therefore furthering the cause of the nation. It is perhaps due to this that the Regency era was so concerned with the regulation of gender roles from the time that children were very young. There were many thinkers at the time of the regency who had ideas about what should constitute the rearing of children and the roles of men and women within British society and many of these philosophers wrote about what was the appropriate behaviour and education of people based on their gender. One of the most influential voices was Mary Wollstonecraft, philosopher and author of several books regarding gender roles who paid particular attention to the rights of women. Her opposite was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, another prominent philosopher who operated under the belief that women were not on the same intellectual level as women, he warned against trying to educate women in the same way that men were educated as this would not be productive in their natural roles of wife and mother. While these two philosophers do not represent all of what was thought and said about gender during the 18th century, their views could be said to be representative of the sentiment regarding gender in Britain in the 18th century.

The life of a child in the 18th century was decided on the day that they were born. For those children born male, they were expected to become good British citizens by getting a good education, participating in masculine past-times and in many cases being involved in political or militaristic pursuits. At a growing rate boys were expected to be well educated and knowledgeable about politics and philosophy, and to partake in conversations about these topics. Boys were educated with the intention of turning them into good men, contrasting with girls who were educated to be good wives.

The infancy of a child in the 18th century could be said to be less gendered then the lives of infants in the 21st century. Under the age of 3 girls and boys were dressed the same, it was between the ages of 3-5 that boys began to dress in a way different then girls and at this time and this was the time when they began to become more and more separated in terms of treatment based on their gender. It was at this time that boys would start to be ingrained with the idea that they were to be the heads of their households and the main supporter of their families one day, girls on the other hand would begin to be trained in leading a household and be taught to be “ladylike” and to gain skills that would be useful in raising children of their own and taking care of their families. Their job was to nurture and it would have been ingrained in them from the time they were able to walk.

One of the most obvious indicators of gender is fashion. Fashion can often be an indication of gender roles of a time, as often the silhouette will indicate the types of activities that people were expected to partake in. Men dressed in a way that was clean and neat. Their clothing was a direct reflection of their social class and as such it was important that their way of dress was appropriate and put together. Often clothing was very constricting; much more so then it had been in previous centuries. Collars and suits were often tied more tightly and it was not common for men to wear corsets under their clothing to attain a more desirable figure. Men in this time became increasingly more aware of the way that they dressed. The late 1700’s had far more rigid clothing for men, and saw the rise of the dandy, or a man who spent a great deal of time and effort cultivating a wardrobe that was more elegant and well kept then the typical 18th century man.

Young girls were in training from the time they were very young to become good mothers and wives when they become women. This meant that their education in things like politics was often put on the back burner in favour of learning how to run a home and learning how to raise children. They were educated only with the goal of one day being good mothers to their sons, who would one day become good British Citizens. Mary Wollstonecraft suggested that women in the 18th century were turned into women when they were still children, and that this was what was barring them from being citizens of their nation.  

The life of a young child in the regency era was very much dependant on the gender that you were born. This can be seen in the types of play that was considered appropriate to girls and boys at this time. While the girls would have been encouraged to play with dolls and to practice their skills as a home maker and mother with a series of games, boys would be encouraged to take on more physical activity. There would have also been many toys that were gender neutral that could be played with by both girls and boy.  Ultimately the toys that children in the 18th century were given were indicative of the lives that they were expected to lead, with boys being given more freedom and encouraged to explore and question and girls being encouraged to nurture and remain docile and delicate.

As the mothers of the Nation, women were not expected to partake in any kind of physical activity. The long dresses that were worn clearly illustrate this. Women’s clothing in the regency was meant to evoke more natural silhouettes, often inspired by the clothing of the classical period with necklines and fabric folds taken from the Greek sculptures. . Women were expected to dress in a manner that made them appear soft and delicate. Women’s clothing was a representation of who they were meant to be, and their clothing was meant to represent that they would be a good wife and mother.

Women were tasked with raising the next generation of British people, and the goal was to raise their children to be good citizens. Men and women were raised to adhere to the strict social roles that their gender had defined for them. They were meant to fulfill the duties of their sex and to contribute to the nation in whatever way they could. This was also a time when philosophy was thriving, and as such there was significant debate about what specifically gender roles should be and what the nation should try and model it’s self as. It was through this debate that gender roles began to change and evolve into what we now see in the 21st century.

“Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with rational fellowship instead of slavish obedience, they would find us more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more faithful wives, more reasonable mothers—in a word, better citizens.” 

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of women chapter 9.

“Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with rational fellowship instead of slavish obedience, they would find us more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more faithful wives, more reasonable mothers—in a word, better citizens.” 

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of women chapter 9.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a well-known Philosopher who was actively outspoken regarding the rights of women and the problems inherent in the gender roles of the 18th century. She was best known for her work A Vindication on the rights of women where she laid out an argument for better education of young girls in the hopes that they too may be good citizens in the British Nation. Wollstonecraft claimed that women who were deemed to be silly or foolish were not so because of anything wrong with them, but rather because they had never been given the chance to gain an education under the current strict gender rules. Wollstonecraft’s arguments are not based on the belief that women and men are equal, but rather on the idea that women could be better citizens then they are being allowed to be, her goals were on some level to use education to further the cause of the nation and create better citizens through increased education for women.

“Believe me, judicious mother, do not make a good man of your daughter as though to give the lie to nature, but make of her a good woman, and be assured that she will be worth more to herself and to us.”

Jean-Jaques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a prominent enlightenment thinker best known for his work The Social Contract but he also talked extensively on what should be the roles of women. Rousseau felt that women who were too highly educated were not filling their natural role as wives and mothers. He felt that women were physiologically destined to remain in the home and raise their sons to be good citizens, which made the idea of women getting an education unnecessary and wasteful. He felt that women were incapable of grasping the concepts taught to boys and that they should not try as it would do them no good. He emphasised morality and domesticity in women and felt that women should do their best to fill the roles that society (and in his opinion, nature) had provided them.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s view on education was very progressive for her time, she argued that girls should be educated with boys, and in the same manner that boys were educated in. She felt that by educating women and men in the same manner and in the same place men were more able to think of women as companions rather then subordinates, and in turn women would become better suited to be wives and partners to their husbands rather then doing as they were told and not questioning their husbands. While she did not feed that there should be total gender equality, she did believe that educating children together would allow them to better understand each other and hopefully create relationships that were better able to serve the nation.

The regency family was based around strict gender roles, which affected every stage of the lives of young people. While girls were taught to raise the next generation of citizens, men were taught to think in terms of philosophy and to work on altering the political sphere of the nation. Both genders were given a vital role in the formation of the nation and both genders were expected to do their best to fill these roles. For women, they were first and foremost to bear sons. They were also expected to teach those sons to be good British Citizens and to make sure that their daughters grew up to do the same for their own sons. Men were expected to be the heads of the households and to be politically active and educated. Whole both of these roles were very separate in what was expected of them, the goal for both men and women in a family was to do their best to further the ideals of the Nation.

Britain in the 18th century was on the verge of change. England had been effected by the French Revolution, and it’s citizens were more politically active and educated then ever, there was more talk of what exactly women’s roles should be and a greater emphasis was put on being a citizen of the country and trying to serve the needs of the Nation. Philosophers like Rousseau and Wollstonecraft were both interested in creating a more productive nation and working to make the British people the best that they could be, but drastically differed on their ideas of what women should be allowed to do and what their role should be within the nation. Gender in the 18th Century was clearly defined and rigid in it’s standard, but was beginning to change and become what we now see in the 21st century.

Page created by the class of HIST 465, Queen's University, 2016

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