国外学者关于19世纪英国中产阶级妇女研究综述

A Review of the Foreign Scholars ' Studies on the Nineteenth-century British Middle-class Women

19世纪英国中产阶级妇女问题是近年来国外史学界新兴的研究主题。相关研究主要集中于公共与私人"两域分离",中产阶级妇女的财产权、就业经营权和政治权等方面。有些学者认为"两域分离"环境造成了普遍而复杂的性别歧视和性别对抗,限制了女性的就业、投资和参政活动,使得英国中产阶级妇女处于从属地位;另一些学者则通过原始文献、个人日记等新材料,从特定行业、区域的个案研究中发现:19世纪英国的公共领域和私人领域无法真正分离,父权制下的英国中产阶级妇女在家庭和公共领域都积极地行使了诸多权利,19世纪英国中产阶级两性关系向平等方向发展。

The researches on the nineteenth-century British middle-class women have attracted a lot of attention in the western historical field. They mainly focused on the＂ two separation＂ in the public and private spheres,along with the middle-class women＇s rights to property,employment and vote. Some scholars believe that the ＂two separation＂ spheres caused a prevailing and sophisticating effect on the gender discrimination and gender confrontation,which further limited women＇s employment, investment and suffrage. Consequently, the British middle class women subordinated to the men. Meanwhile, other scholars referred to the original documents, personal diaries and some new materials to investigate the issue from a series of cases occurring in the specific industrial and regional areas. They contend there was no real separation of public and privacy in the nineteenth-century Britain. The British middle-class women actively exercised many rights both in the family and in the public sphere under the patriarchy setting. In fact, the British middle-class gender relations in the nineteenth century have progressed towards gender equality.