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:
“... women learned one important lesson—namely, that it is impossible for the best of men to understand women’s feelings or the humiliation of their position. When they asked us to be silent on our question during the War, and labor for the emancipation of the slave, we did so, and gave five years to his emancipation and enfranchisement.... I was convinced, at the time, that it was the true policy. I am now equally sure that it was a blunder.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I am awaked almost every night by the panting of the locomotive. It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)