WOMEN'S SOCIAL STATUS IN LATE EIGHTEENTH–EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND: A SOCIO-HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK FOR READING JANE AUSTEN

The social position of women in late eighteenth–early nineteenth century England was shaped by a network of legal constraints, economic dependence, and moral expectations that defined women primarily through domestic and relational roles. This article examines the historical foundations of women’s social status during the Regency period and argues that these conditions are essential for understanding the representation of women in Jane Austen’s fiction. Drawing on feminist literary criticism and social history, the study explores the impact of legal doctrines such as coverture, gendered education, and moral ideology on women’s everyday lives. The article demonstrates that although women were excluded from formal political and legal power, literature became a space in which female experience, judgment, and agency could be articulated. Establishing this socio-historical framework allows for a more nuanced interpretation of Austen’s artistic portrayal of women.