Pregnant Women and Pregnant Ladies: A Comparative Analysis of Pregnancy as a Classed Experience in England, c.1870-1918

Experiences of pregnancy in late-Victorian and Edwardian England were profoundly influenced by the woman's class position. Amidst population anxieties, pregnancy assumed primacy in expectations of womanhood, yet class privileges and prejudices were unyielding. At these intersections, different practices and understandings of pregnancy emerged. Familial and financial pressures left working-class women with no choice but to work tirelessly throughout pregnancy, subjecting them to exhaustion, illness, and malnutrition. Until a small maternity allowance was granted in 1911, these women received no support -- both State and society condoned the risks, hardships, and traumas of working-class pregnancy. Middle- and upper-class pregnancies, however, looked entirely different. With access to antenatal medical care, these pregnancies were characterised by rest, gentle exercise, and diets tailored to optimise mother and baby's health. These stark contrasts expose class as a powerful discursive influence upon womanhood in this period. Practices and expectations of pregnancy differed along a spectrum of class, but how did women of different classes conceptualise pregnancy differently? Did they internalise or resist these norms? How did their class status manifest in particular psychological and bodily experiences of pregnancy? By recognising pregnant women as historical agents and privileging their perspectives, analyses of their autobiographies can answer these questions.
Nuancing this analysis with disability historiography reveals that women of all class strata perceived their pregnant bodies as disabled. Overexertion often incapacitated working-class women during pregnancy, disabling them in their duties to their families. Meanwhile, health advice literature mandated rest and seclusion for upper-class pregnancies. Disability theory elucidates the common sentiments produced by class-specific experiences, complicating our understanding of pregnancy in this period.