“The changing environment to which late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century women and girls found themselves adapting seems Darwinian. Beginning with the United Kingdom’s 1851 census reporting a surplus of women with no spouse to support them, women had to survive by finding new niches outside the home. For Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the “new woman” who seeks her own sustenance is more evolutionarily viable than the “parasite mate” wholly dependent on her husband. But Gilman’s questioning of women’s domestic role was not the only position taken by Victorian feminists, especially those who hope that the story of human evolution would reveal strong female roles equal to the male warrior celebrated in Darwin’s Descent of Man.”
The women had to adapt accordingly to the environmental changes to amplify their chances of survival, and the unavailability of male partners to support them emboldened them to find alternatives for sustaining themselves. They would no longer rely on non-existent spouses. The women's evolution demonstrates Victorian feminism's nature, whereby women sought to rise above the domestic sphere. They sought for independence which would ensure that their lives would not be limited only to the domestic chores.
“Evolutionary theory and recapitulation, though primarily male-focused for Victorians, opened the door to new responsibilities and activities for girls in the next century. The need for strong mothers was a by-product of the perceived need for strong sons. The degeneration fears resulting from the Boer Wars, when so many of the young men wishing to enlist were found physically unfit, sought a solution that looked past the individual boy to the mother who bore him. Yet despite the relegation of girls to the singular identity as future mothers of boys, the focus on an evolutionarily fit motherhood made girls’ education, girls’ exercise, and girls’ recapitulation culturally acceptable.”
The ideology of evolution shaped gender politics. Girls were socialized to be strong to increase the odds of bearing strong sons (who would be assets in their communities). Mothers determined whether their sons were strong or not; hence, they were encouraged to engage in undertakings that would benefit their unborn children. The girls' role was reduced to the bearing of sons; hence, the culture evolved to offer room for strong mothers. The evolution emphasized on the origin of strong men that is women.
“Herbert Spender famously defended the “separate spheres” as the hallmark of a civilized society. In “Psychology of the Sexes” (1873), he asks, “are the mental natures of men and women the same?” and answers decidedly that they are not. The difference is the result of their unique reproductive functions. According to Spencer, gestation and childbirth require so much energy that females are stunted by the expenditure. There exists, he writes, “a somewhat earlier arrest of individual evolution in women than in men, necessitated by the reservation of vital power to meet the needs of reproduction.” The female’s “individual evolution” is halted by the toll maternity takes on her body, while male development surges ever onward.”
Herbert Spender alludes to the politics of biology in explaining his perceived inequalities between genders. He argues that the females' mental capacity is inferior to the men's due to the intensive reproductive roles women play. According to Herbert spender, maternity roles slow down the pace at which the women evolve. Accordingly, men's evolution progresses faster than women when women are involved in maternal roles. Biology influences the amount of power or mental capacities that an individual possesses. Spender implies that gender is a biological aspect that cannot be altered.
