Our British Heritage

The women who came to New Zealand from Britain in the nineteenth century brought with them the customs and attitudes, as well as the economic and legal status of the sisters they left behind. Nineteenth century Britain was still in the throes of the Industrial Revolution, The rapid growth of industry and accompanying urbanisation had had a drastic effect on the position of women.

In feudal society the vast majority of people were serfs. Women played an important part in the feudal economy. In the home they produced the necessities of life: butter, cloth, garments, etc. Their important place in production ensured their important (but not equal) status in society.

The upheavals of the Industrial Revolution: the development of industry, and the rise of the middle classes dramatically changed women's position in society. The middle class women were trapped in the home, stripped of all economic and legal rights, as wife and mother. Working class women were thrown into either the factories or the brothels, often with the added burdens of motherhood and housewifery.

Thus in nineteenth century Britian there evolved two movements concerning women; the one to protect them and their children from dreadful working conditions, long hours and exploitation by low wages; the other, mainly involving middle class women, to fight for civil rights, for the right to vote, the right to an education and the right to work. Both these movements were to take root in colonial New Zealand.