This aspect of history wasn't new to me: women in the novel as in life were expected to wield any influence only in private, through their relationships with men, and not in their own right. They were supposed to depend on men to take care of things, make the decisions, protect them from the world at large (unless they were lower class). And apparently, even though we have the vote in England and in America, that hasn't changed, not in the U.S. at least. . I've been dealing with this attitude my entire life (since 1950!). It's now acceptable for women to have careers, but not to aspire to wield, for example, presidential power. We still have very few women overall as governors, senators, etc.