ヴィクトリア社会における女性の職業支援の「論理」 : 初期フェミニズム誌English Woman’s Journal にみる言説から

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the discourse on women and work that was developed in English Woman's Journal (EWJ ), an early English feminism magazine, published from 1858 to 1864. This paper argues that EWJ tried to develop practical strategies for legitimising the necessity of women's occupational independence and supporting it, by demonstrating logically the process of “un-learning” the value of gentility, which was widely accepted in the Victorian society and was to praise idle women at home, not engaging in any paid employment. The discourse of EWJ was based on the observations on the lives of the lower middle-class women, who desperately needed livelihood despite their social position. From the analysis of the articles of EWJ , the paper identifies the following five components in the discourse and examines them as “logic”. These are 1. “Un-learning (= decomposing and reconstructing) ” the gentility, 2. Revealing inconsistency in general understanding on “women” and “work, ” 3. Developing new learning and education for women who are or will be engaged in occupations/professions, 4. Proposing new occupations/professions for women, 5. Proposing the establishment of associations for working/professional women. By examining these as “logic, ” it is indicated how early feminists related women and work to the emancipation of women as human beings, and how they tried to develop the new possibility for women's independence through work.