Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Ευρωπαϊκή ΙστορίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Mpougdani Aikaterini
Supervisors info:
Παπαθανασίου Μαρία, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Νεότερης Ευρωπαικής Ιστορίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Γιαντσή- Μελετιάδη Νικολέττα,Καθηγήτρια Μεσαιωνικής Ιστορίας της Δύσεως, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ, ngian@arch.uoa.gr
Κωνσταντινίδου Κατερίνα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Ιστορίας Νέου Ελληνισµού, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ, kkonstantin@arch.uoa.gr
Original Title:
Έμφυλες και ταξικές προκαταλήψεις στη Βρετανία του 19ου αιώνα: οι Νόμοι περί Νόθων και το σκάνδαλο της «εκτροφής βρεφών και νηπίων» (baby-farming)
Translated title:
Gender and class prejudice in 19th-century Britain: the Bastardy Clauses and the ''baby-farming'' scandal
Summary:
Starting from the legislation of 1834 regarding the management of the poor, within the wider context of reformative changes imposed by the dominant social classes, the first part of the paper examines the special weight given by the legislation, as well as by the public discourse, to the issue of single mothers with the provisions of the Laws of 1834 and the effects they had on the lives of women and children, but also more broadly. The workhouse becomes a one-way option, unless a woman chooses to preserve her dignity through more drastic and extreme solutions, such as abortion and abandonment, even infanticide. In the second part of the paper, the phenomenon of baby-farming is examined, as a long-term effect of the Law of 1834, which arose as a necessary solution for women who were in this difficult position, as well as the huge scandal with the mass infanticides associated with this practice and the laws passed in the wake of the scandal in 1872 and then in 1897. The purpose of this study, through examining at the laws and their impact on the lives of women and children, but also by taking a closer look at the paid carers involved in this massive scandal, is to find and highlight gender and class prejudices about the woman of the poor, working classes, as maintained and perpetuated throughout this period by the ruling classes.
Main subject category:
History
Keywords:
New Poor Law, 1834, bastardy, unmarried mothers, workhouse, infanticide, abortion, abandonment, babies, infants, children, baby-farming, baby-farmer, Amelia Dyer, Charlotte Winsor, Jessie King, Margaret Waters
