Women's Leisure Activities
Women's leisure activities included in large part many traditional pastimes: reading, embroidery, music, and traditional handicrafts. More modern pursuits were introduced to women's lives during the 19th century, however.
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Croquet by James Tissot. Croquet was a popular lawn game in Britain beginning in the 1860s.
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Pot Pourri by Herbert James Draper (1895). A traditional pastime was making pot pourri by dipping dried flowers in perfumed water.
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The Fair Toxophilites by William Powell Frith (1872). Archery, or toxophily, became a popular leisure activity for upper class women in Britain.
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On the Shores of Bognor Regis by Alexander Rossi (artist). Seaside picnics near resort villages in England became accessible to the middle classes later in the Victorian era.
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An illustration from the book Horsemanship for Women by Theodore Hoe Mead (1887). Women equestrians rode "side saddle", succeeding at challenging manoeuvres despite this sport handicap.
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A Rally by Sir John Lavery. Badminton and tennis were popular occasions for parties, with women playing "mixed doubles" alongside male players.
Read more about this topic: Women In The Victorian Era
Famous quotes containing the words women, leisure and/or activities:
“To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit it and read it are old women over their tea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A healthy man, with steady employment, as wood-chopping at fifty cents a cord, and a camp in the woods, will not be a good subject for Christianity. The New Testament may be a choice book to him on some, but not on all or most of his days. He will rather go a-fishing in his leisure hours. The Apostles, though they were fishers too, were of the solemn race of sea-fishers, and never trolled for pickerel on inland streams.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)