During this time, the role that women were expected to play in society was that of the nurturer who just stayed at home and took care of her family.  It was said that there should be "separate spheres" for men and women.  But this "ideal" was not really followed in practice by everyone.  The reason for this is that many families were too poor to do this.  Instead, the women in such families ended up having to go to work in factories.  They also had to do housework, but economic necessity forced them to work, thus going against the role that was expected of them