"Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid"
About this Quote
Her intent is corrective, almost impatient: class is not a footnote to gendered oppression but a primary axis that decides whether “the past” is experienced as constraint, danger, exhaustion, or relative autonomy. By using the word “fun,” she exposes how contemporary audiences consume earlier eras as entertainment. “Fun” is also a trapdoor. It forces the reader to admit the premise is unserious, then confront the seriousness underneath: someone’s “privileged woman” is someone else’s employer.
The maid clause does the real cultural work. It’s not an abstract reminder that inequality existed; it’s an intimate, domestic reversal. The 18th-century household becomes a micro-economy where femininity is stratified: one woman’s leisure is built from another woman’s labor, surveillance, and vulnerability. Fraser, a biographer steeped in elite archives, is implicitly critiquing the archive itself: the historical record is biased toward the women who had letters, portraits, and preserved voices.
Contextually, it reads like a pushback against heritage-romance narratives (Austen-ification, costume-drama tourism) and against any feminism that forgets who got left cleaning the room after the salon emptied.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fraser, Antonia. (2026, January 17). Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/lives-in-previous-centuries-for-women-are-largely-38844/
Chicago Style
Fraser, Antonia. "Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/lives-in-previous-centuries-for-women-are-largely-38844/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/lives-in-previous-centuries-for-women-are-largely-38844/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
