Editing Victorian era (section)

===Family life===
The Victorian era saw a rapidly growing [[middle class]] who became an important cultural influence, to a significant extent replacing the [[aristocracy]] as British society's dominant class.<ref name="houghton12">{{Cite book |last=Houghton |first=Walter E. |date=2008 |title=The Victorian Frame of Mind |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |doi=10.12987/9780300194289|isbn=9780300194289 |s2cid=246119772 }}</ref><ref name="Halévy-1924">{{Cite book |last=Halévy |first=Élie |title=A history of the English people ... |publisher=T. F. Unwin |date=1924 |pages=585–595 |oclc=1295721374}}</ref> A distinctive middle-class lifestyle developed that influenced what society valued as a whole.<ref name="houghton12" />''<ref name="Wohl-19782">{{cite book |last=Wohl |first=Anthony S. |title=The Victorian family: structure and stresses |publisher=Croom Helm |year=1978 |isbn=9780856644382 |location=London}}<br /><br />: ''Cited in'': {{cite book |last=Summerscale |first=Kate |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780747582151 |title=The suspicions of Mr. Whicher or the murder at Road Hill House |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2008 |isbn=9780747596486 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780747582151/page/109 109–110] |author-link=Kate Summerscale |url-access=registration |ref=none}} (novel)</ref>'' Increased importance was placed on the value of the family, and the idea that marriage should be based on romantic love gained popularity.<ref name="K2">{{Cite book |last=Theodore. |first=Hoppen, K. |title=The Mid-Victorian Generation 1846-1886 |date=30 June 2000 |isbn=978-0-19-254397-4 |pages=316 |publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=1016061494}}</ref><ref name="Boston-20192">{{Cite web |last=Boston |first=Michelle |date=12 February 2019 |title=Five Victorian paintings that break tradition in their celebration of love |url=https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/2948/five-victorian-paintings-break-tradition/ |access-date=18 December 2020 |website=USC Dornsife |publisher=University of Southern California |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210193513/https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/2948/five-victorian-paintings-break-tradition/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A clear separation was established between the home and the workplace, which had often not been the case before.''<ref name="Wohl-19782" />'' The home was seen as a private environment,''<ref name="Wohl-19782" />'' where housewives provided their husbands with a respite from the troubles of the outside world.<ref name="K2" /> Within this ideal, women were expected to focus on domestic matters and to rely on men as breadwinners.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robyn Ryle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHHz_p-j9hMC&pg=PA342 |title=Questioning gender: a sociological exploration |publisher=SAGE/Pine Forge Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4129-6594-1 |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |pages=342–343}}</ref><ref name="Rubinow-1992">{{Cite book |last=Rubinow. |first=Gorsky, Susan |title=Femininity to feminism: women and literature in the Nineteenth century |date=1992 |publisher=Twayne Publishers |isbn=0-8057-8978-2 |oclc=802891481}}</ref> Women had limited legal rights in most areas of life, and a [[Feminism in the United Kingdom|feminist]] movement developed.<ref name="Rubinow-1992" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=F. Elizabeth |year=2004 |title="Angel of the House" in Adams, ed. |journal=Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era |volume=1 |issue= |pages=40–41}}</ref> Parental authority was seen as important, but children were given [[Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act 1889|legal protections against abuse and neglect]] for the first time towards the end of the period.<ref name="Bilston-20192">{{Cite web |last=Bilston |first=Barbara |date=4 July 2010 |title=A history of child protection |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/childhood-youth/working-young-people/history-child-protection |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=Open University |language=en |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624202903/https://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/childhood-youth/working-young-people/history-child-protection |url-status=live }}</ref> Access to education increased rapidly during the 19th century. State-funded schools were established in England and Wales for the first time. Education became compulsory for pre-teenaged children in England, Scotland and Wales. Literacy rates increased rapidly, and had become nearly universal by the end of the century.<ref name="Lloyd-20072">{{Cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Amy |date=2007 |title=Education, Literacy and the Reading Public |url=https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-essays/ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.pdf |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=27 January 2022 |archive-date=20 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520183852/https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-essays/ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1870 Education Act |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/1870educationact/ |website=UK Parliament}}</ref> Private education for wealthier children, boys and more gradually girls, became more formalised over the course of the century.<ref name="Lloyd-20072" />