Cult of domesticity facts for kids

The cult of domesticity, also known as the cult of true womanhood, is an opinion about women in the 1800s. They believed that women should stay at home and should not do any work outside of the home. There were four things they believed that women should be:

1. More religious than men (piety)
2. Pure in heart, mind, and body (purity)
3. Obedient to their husbands (submissiveness)
4. Staying at home (domesticity)

The idea of this domesticity was practiced in 1820, however, the ideology was not recognized and truly followed until the 1840s and 1850. This domesticity came to an end only when the Civil War had ended(around 1865) due to the colonies change in beliefs.

This ideology would strongly discourage women from obtaining an education. This ideology was thought to elevate the moral status of women and be beneficial for them in ways such as living lives of higher material comfort. It made the roles of wife and being a mother more important in society.

Images for kids

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  Family life is a key value of domesticity

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  Godey's Lady's Book was a highly influential women's magazine which reinforced many of the values of the Cult of Domesticity.

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  A New Court of Queen's Bench, an 1849 caricature by George Cruikshank, mocking the idea of women taking over the all-male world of the high courts of law.

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  Still from the film "Le Repas de bebe", a 1895 family-centered short.