Depravity and Exploitation of the Unprotected
By Tanya Souther
The Industrial Revolution transformed Britain's economy and society, which brought new wealth and technological advances to this region. However, the period brought tremendous hardship to working-class families, particularly those with women and children. Working-class women and children faced exploitative labor and few legal protections, which heightened their vulnerability to social vices like prostitution. Nevertheless, the middle class and aristocracy benefited from increased privileges and educational opportunities. In Victorian Britain, the Industrial Revolution exacerbated social inequality by strengthening gender hierarchies and class divisions. Legislation like the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s further institutionalized the exploitation of working-class women and children. Examining the start of the Victorian era, Britain's social classes and the restricted opportunities for the working class are critical for understanding how industrialization exacerbated these gendered and class-based disparities.
Victorian society was divided amongst the aristocrats, the upper class, the new emerging middle class, and the struggling working class comprised the strict class. The rise of the middle class was made possible by industrial capitalism, but it also widened the gap between the working class and the economic elite. "The middle-class groups are dependent upon the working class, depriving the workers of the possibility of rising into the middle class of society," Friedrich Engels noted.[1] The fact that working-class families were mainly restricted to manual labor and seldom had opportunities for upward mobility served to solidify their oppression under industrial capitalism further.
The elite class held extreme political and economic power in Britain. In addition to controlling land and food supplies, members of the aristocracy held seats in the House of Lords. The aristocrats in England frequently believed that God predetermined their positions. Robert Lowe states, "The doctrine of the divine king exemplifies a traditional approach to political subjects."[2] These ideas further institutionalized the working class's social immobility by defending the upholding of exclusionary governance and class hierarchies. The labor of women and children under industrial capitalism reflected and strengthened their marginalized status, these deeply ingrained class divisions paved the way for exploitative labor practices. Industrialization increased the number of workers, but its exploitative conditions disproportionately impacted women and children. Many women received much lower pay than men for domestic work or employment in textile mills. Small in stature, factories and mines utilized children for hazardous and taxing labor. Although their labor was necessary for the family to survive, it also made them susceptible to harm and exploitation.
For some, factory work provided a way out of extreme poverty, but in most cases, it served to maintain the socioeconomic status quo. "Today, he is born a worker; he must remain a worker for the rest of his life," Engels observed.[3] This observation highlights the systemic obstacles impeding social advancement. By undervaluing the labor of women and children and denying them protection under the law, industrial practices solidified their marginalization. Economic desperation forced many working-class women into prostitution by denying them access to adequate wages and legal protections. This harsh reality further highlighted how industrial society failed to provide for its most vulnerable members. Many working-class women resorted to prostitution as a means of livelihood, seeing there were few options for work and education. This result was a structural effect of industrial capitalism rather than a moral failure.
In The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, W.T. Stead detailed how brothel keepers preyed on vulnerable young women: "Maids, as you call them, fresh girls, as we know them in the trade, are constantly in demand. His stock of girls constantly depletes and requires replenishment.”[4] A terrible child trafficking industry resulted from the demand for young sex workers; some of these children were sold into prostitution by their families. The brothel keepers acquire many young girls who often came from the rural countryside through seduction or kidnapping to keep up with the demand. In urban areas, where the working class lived in filthy conditions, prostitution became common. Judith Walkowitz shares this perspective on how British society viewed prostitution, “The public symbol of female vice … a logo of the divided city itself.”[5] Victorian society responded with punitive laws that further marginalized women rather than tackling poverty or offering them resources to escape this life.
As historian Paula Bartley emphasizes, these policies were more concerned with controlling working-class sexuality than with addressing its social causes. “Even when they had left the institution, ex-inmates were supervised. To ensure they worked hard and remained morally upright, their new employers carefully monitored those who entered domestic service.” [6] The British government responded to the structural causes of prostitution by enacting laws like the Contagious Diseases Acts, which criminalized and regulated women’s bodies under the appearance of public health.
To prevent venereal diseases from spreading among military personnel, the British government implemented the Contagious Diseases Acts in the 1860s as a public health measure. These laws permitted women suspected of prostitution to be detained and subjected to forced medical examinations. According to The Remedy Worse than the Disease, a woman was found guilty under Clause 31 of the Act if “she returned to sex work after being released from the hospital before receiving a disease-free certification,” and she could be re-imprisoned [7]. The acts specifically targeted women involved in prostitution while ignoring the role of their male clients, who included men from higher social classes, sailors, and soldiers. "These laws enable men to seduce and abandon at their pleasure, while the woman bears all the shame and punishment,” said Josephine Butler, a prominent opponent of the Acts, who claimed that the laws punished women while shielding the offenders .[8]
The government established “lock hospitals” as part of the Contagious Diseases Acts, designed to treat sexually transmitted infections. The government confined women with venereal diseases to these hospitals for up to nine months. They dehumanized them by subjecting them to public shaming, special uniforms, and shaved heads. Judith Walkowitz argues that instead of these institutions being therapeutic, they were sites where "permeable and transgressed borders between classes and sexes, as the carriers of physical and moral pollution." [9]The Contagious Diseases Acts, which institutionalized gendered injustice under the pretense of public health reform, represented the meeting point of sexism, classism, and state control. Industrialization systematically marginalized the working class, leading to policies that prioritized control over care.
The Industrial Revolution sparked economic change in Victorian Britain and solidified structural injustices. Working-class women and children suffered disproportionately as a result of discriminatory laws that forced prostitution based on financial necessity and exploitative labor. Class and gender oppression were reinforced by the state's targeting of vulnerable populations under the pretense of public health, as demonstrated by the Contagious Diseases Acts. Victorian society chose to control and condemn these individuals who were already marginalized by society rather than provide assistance and investigate the underlying causes of poverty and inequality in Victorian Britain.
[1] Engels, Friedrich. 1844. The Condition of the Working Class in England. London Lawrence & Wishart Moscow Progress Publishers. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/condition-working-class-england.pdf.
[2] Robert Lowe 1867 The Case Against Democracy
[3] Engels, Friedrich. 1844. The Condition of the Working Class in England. London Lawrence & Wishart Moscow Progress Publishers. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/condition-working-class-england.pdf.
[4] W.T. Stead, “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon I the Report of Our Secret Commission,” The Pall Mall Gazette, (6 July 1885).
[5] Walkowitz, Judith R. 1992. City of Dreadful Delight Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. Chicago Univ. Of Chicago Press.
[6] Walkowitz, Judith R. 1992. City of Dreadful Delight Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late Victorian London. Chicago Univ. Of Chicago Press.
[7] The Remedy Worse Than The Disease 1866
[8] Butler, Josephine, 1879. Social Purity.
[9] Walkowitz, Judith R. 1992. City of Dreadful Delight Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. Chicago Univ. Of Chicago Press.
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