Guest post written by author Penny Haw
Penny Haw is the author of The Invincible Miss Cust (out October 4), a historical fiction novel following Aleen Cust in her fight to become the first female veterinary surgeon in Britain and Ireland as she courageously refuses to let societal norms, family disapproval, or a legal battle with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons stand in her way.
It wasn’t only her family and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) that stood in Aleen Cust’s way when she decided to become a veterinary surgeon. She also had to contend with the Victorian mindset, customs and rules that prevented women from being educated, working, and doing anything else that might empower and give them independence. The Invincible Miss Cust describes how Aleen couldn’t access her inheritance from her father to pay for her studies. The money was controlled by her brother. That would’ve changed had she married, at which point her husband would’ve managed it!
Of course, even if Aleen had money, it wasn’t easy for a woman to get access to higher education. That said, during the mid to late 1800s, there were moves in Victorian England to advance education for women. The detractors were many. In fact, some of the most notable resistance to these developments came from members of the medical profession. They argued that being educated would impede a woman’s ability to bear children. Some even said educated women’s ovaries would “dry up”. Even when a few progressive universities opened their doors to women, many families prohibited their daughters from attending because they believed it make them “unmarriageable”.
Given that it was the Victorian era, one might imagine that Queen Victoria might’ve used her enormous power to uplift other women. Instead, the monarch’s feminist legacy is contentious. While some argue that her public and political persona inspired other women about what they might be capable of, her anti-feminist sentiments are widely recorded in history. She certainly didn’t like the idea of women imagining they might be man’s equal. With Aleen’s mother in the role of Women of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria and fearful of Her Majesty’s disapproval her daughter’s “unladylike” ambitions, it’s unlikely Aleen was inspired in any way by Queen Victoria.
Regardless of their social standing, women were treated as secondary citizens to men in Victorian England. They were considered passive and, as the physically weaker sex, were expected to stay at home. Because men were considered more intelligent and stronger than women, men were expected to protect women. This, it was believed, gave men the right to control women.
While working-class girls began working from a young age, upper-class girls, like Aleen, were discouraged from doing so. Upper-class women who had to work were viewed as unrefined or damaged and were pitied. To marry, have children and manage a household was considered their destiny. Aleen was among the women of the era who longed to live a life of purpose beyond raising a family and running a home. She endured and sacrificed a great deal to realize her dream. In doing so, she cleared the path for other women.
