Although women over the 1837-1901 period made HUGE gains, each country was slow in progress towards women’s right to vote, elimination of slavery, marriage and ownership laws, and equality in the work place.
Under Queen Victoria, England was the first among Europeans (Scandanavians), and Americans to abolish slavery, give the right to vote, and give women the right to own property. The Scandanavians (Holland in particular) were the first to have women in higher education and to have the first medical professionals and scientists.
American women and blacks would not get the right to vote until well after the era, and while they could work, play sports, and run businesses, they were still assigned specific societal roles with limitations throughout the era.
(Photo: a Russian man and his wife illustrate gender disparity in 1900)