Results: Spinsterhood Through History
Published on 04/25/2025
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
The word spinster entered the English language in the mid 1300s. It refers to a woman who is old enough to be married and isn't and not likely to be married. Back in the middle- ages unmarried women ended up with lower status, and lower income jobs such as combing, carding, and spinning wool, hence the term spinster. Women who spun wool or yarn and provided for themselves by that means were given the title of Spinster. Do you think the word Spinster is an outdated term?
Yes
55%
1162 votes
No
18%
381 votes
Undecided
27%
557 votes
2.
2.
Many spinsters throughout the ages have contributed in significant ways to the world from writers to actresses and everything in between spinsters have made a name for themselves among the great. Which of the following spinsters are you familiar with as being a strong single woman? Queen Elizabeth 1
39%
810 votes
Susan B. Anthony
38%
808 votes
Oprah Winfrey
40%
849 votes
Jane Austen
33%
690 votes
Helen Keller
48%
1009 votes
Greta Garbo
29%
600 votes
Emily Dickinson
34%
718 votes
Anne Bronte
22%
464 votes
Florence Nightengale
44%
929 votes
Joan of Arc
46%
964 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
19 votes
Not Applicable
28%
593 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.10% | 8 | |
| My Mom | 0.01% | 1 |
| all | 0.01% | 1 |
| don't know | 0.01% | 1 |
| All of the above | 0.01% | 1 |
| I don't consider any of these women SPINSTERS so N/A | 0.01% | 1 |
| many | 0.01% | 1 |
| Me! | 0.01% | 1 |
| Me | 0.01% | 1 |
| Myself | 0.01% | 1 |
| Karen | 0.01% | 1 |
| MY MOM. | 0.01% | 1 |
3.
3.
Which of the following quotes about spinsters do you enjoy? "I'd rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe" Louisa May Alcott
31%
652 votes
"There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands" Agatha Christie
22%
467 votes
"Husbands and wives talk of the cares of matrimony, and bachelors and spinsters bear them" Wilkie Collins
11%
233 votes
"The nineteenth- century wave of feminism was started by older women who had been through the radicalizing experience of getting married and becoming the legal chattel of their husbands (or the equally radicalizing experience of not getting married and being treated as spinsters)" Gloria Steinem
17%
350 votes
"I was born to be a spinster and, by God, I'm going to spin" Winifred Holtby
20%
423 votes
Not Applicable
44%
925 votes
4.
4.
In the Victorian age, spinsterhood was considered a curse for women. During this time period women didn't have a lot of opportunities to financially provide for herself so was either considered property of her father or husband in order to financially take care of her. As years passed and women were welcomed into the workforce it has become increasing necessary for a two income household. Do you think it is harder to support yourself as a middle class lifestyle on a single income? Yes
53%
1123 votes
No
15%
311 votes
Undecided
32%
666 votes
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