In the years leading up to the Boar war in the late 18 hundreds, women’s role in society was clearly defined. The ideology of the time was that a woman’s place was in the home, there was no better or more fulfilling way for a woman to spend her time than staying in the home to cook clean and raise children. Women were only educated as a means of enabling them to acquire skills that could use in the home and with there family, as this would higher there standard of living, Darwin, Sharpe (1976). Moreover, attitudes towards women’s position within the labour market were defined by such beliefs. Putting the beliefs of the time into context shows that they were interlined with class and the idea of the British race. The “ideology of domesticity” prominent in the 18hundres was as relevant to the middle class women as it was to working class women, Purvis (1987). However as June purvis has said “what was considered appropriate, relevant and unattainable for the middle classes was inappropriate, irrelevant and unobtainable for working class women, Purvis (1987). As it was, not working was economically obtainable for women in the middle classes and seen as appropriate and relevant to a woman’s social standing. However, physically exhausting jobs in poor working conditions for low pay returning to over crowded houses with little heat and no sanitation was the bleak prospect for the majority of the population. Awareness and concern grew about health among the middle classes and government alike who saw poor people as unhealthy. It was believed that keeping women at home would improve health. Women who stayed at home would be healthier as a result of not working women could have healthier babies and could cook and clean and be attentive to child rearing duties. Most of the concern at the time was centred around factory work, were in addition young females were thought to be