Women in London during this time period were not respected nearly as much as they are now. Women were expected to care for the children and to look after the household, doing the daily chores while men worked. If they were working, they would work as seamstresses or as servants doing household chores. Regardless of what they were doing, they were expected to be submissive and rely on a male presence. They were not allowed to rebel or go against anything their husbands instructed of them, and Dickens would write into his stories how some women needed to be beaten into submission.
Source:
Farrell, Timothy. Separate Spheres: Victorian Constructions of Gender in Great Expectations, 1997. The Victorian Web. www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/ge/farrell2.html.
Image:
Blunden, Anna Elizabeth. For Only One Short Hour. 1854, Society of British Artists, London.