“The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone in checking this mad, wicked folly of ‘Women’s Rights’. It is a subject which makes the Queen so furious that she cannot contain herself.”

- May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901
- British
- Queen of the United Kingdom, Empress of India
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Quote
“The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone in checking this mad, wicked folly of ‘Women’s Rights’. It is a subject which makes the Queen so furious that she cannot contain herself.”
Explanation
This quote reveals Queen Victoria’s fierce opposition to the early women’s rights movement, which she dismisses as “mad” and “wicked folly.” Her words convey intense emotional resistance to the idea of expanding women’s roles beyond traditional domestic boundaries, reflecting a deeply conservative stance despite her own unprecedented position as a female monarch. The fact that this subject made her “so furious” suggests that she saw it not just as misguided, but as a dangerous disruption to the established moral and social order.
Victoria’s opposition may seem paradoxical given that she was a powerful female ruler, but it is consistent with her belief that her authority came not from gender equality, but from divine right and constitutional monarchy. She did not view her own reign as evidence that women should participate broadly in politics or public life. Instead, she considered her role exceptional and separate from the aspirations of ordinary women. Her views mirrored the dominant Victorian ideology of “separate spheres”, in which men and women were believed to have distinct, divinely ordained roles.
In modern contexts, this quote is often cited to show how even prominent women have resisted feminist causes, sometimes out of internalized norms or elite detachment. It highlights the historical complexities of progress, reminding us that social change often faces opposition not only from traditional power structures but also from figures who seemingly embody advancement. Victoria’s stance forces a reflection on how cultural values, personal beliefs, and lived experience intersect—and sometimes conflict—in the evolution of rights and justice.
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