Piqued by prejudice

Feb 13 2009 Ealing Gazette

A desire to return to studies triggered extensive research into the lives of women in the 18th century. JANE HARRISON finds out from Jennifer Kelsey how her interest was turned into a successful book

FEMALE emancipation conjures up images of Suffragettes and of women in Jane Austen novels making gentle digs at men. But there are many lesser-known women who stuck out their necks, many in print, to expose the vast injustices faced by women in the 18th and 19th centuries. Women were considered second-class citizens, chattels to be traded for, literally, by men, or left destitute if they were foolish enough to remain unmarried.

They were ridiculed, scorned and pitied but, thanks to the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), Charlotte Smith, Sarah Fielding and, of course, Jane Austen, their plights were well documented and in some cases a better future for women was ignited.

In a riveting and sometimes shocking first book, former special needs teacher Jennifer Kelsey delves into their work.

Jennifer, 52, of Pitshanger Lane, Ealing, says: "Women were not educated to use their brain. They were educated to look beautiful, hide their intelligence and get married.

"There were sexual double standards. It was okay for a bloke to have a fling or to be married and have mistresses. Women had to be pure and innocent before they were married. If a woman was seduced, she was a fallen woman but the bloke was totally acceptable. Even women would look down on a fallen woman.

"Single women didn't have a place in society; a woman was defined according to her relationship with her man. A spinster, or old maid was looked down on. There was no opportunity to fend for yourself, so life would be very difficult."

Jennifer has great admiration for those women who used the subtlety of the written word to flag up the prejudices against women.

"Women were using literature to tease into the plots the way they were treated," she explains.

"What pioneers they were - and most of us don't know anything about them. A lot wrote from their own experience or those of their family.

"To be a woman writer was a huge achievement. Ironically when their work became popular, some men used women's names to sell their work."