Womankind by Yonge, Charlotte Mary - 1882

New York: Macmillan and Co, 1882. Second edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. 8vo. [5], vi-viii, [1], 327, [1], 12 (pages of publisher's advertisements) [2] pp. Green cloth with gold lettering and gold and black bands on the front board and spine. Navy endpapers and pastedowns. Yonge was brought up in a Conservative Christian household in Hampshire England during the early 19th century. Her father encouraged her education on the grounds that she used her writing and literacy to serve her faith. She had training in French, Spanish, and the Classics. Though well-educated, she maintained an oppressive viewpoint that women were inferior as a sex, owing to theological reasoning impressed upon her during her childhood. Her book, Womankind, explains what she thinks are the principal duties of a woman, and what a typical upper class woman's life could be like during the Victorian era. She includes a section on "strong-minded women" and does justify a woman's right to her own opinions, though maintains the role of woman as a "help-meet" to men. This piece reflects a Victorian viewpoint on what was to be expected of women of the day, and gives insight into sexism rooted in Anglican Theology. A Near Fine copy with a few small pencil marks to the front board.