The early Victorian era saw the greatest separation between the roles of the sexes in Western culture (they even had rooms for men and rooms for women), and is the source of modern sexism -- a notion which is often misunderstood by many (and viewed as accusatory, even though it is merely descriptive). At the core of Victorian sexism lies the notion (which had not been so pronounced, or well-formulated before) that women are to be treated well -- adored even -- but completely removed from all power. Their activities were to be limited to the domestic sphere (although that started slowly changing in the late 1840s), which was their domain. As this document says, a woman is to be well-treated, and even indulged -- but matters of importance are left for the husband alone. To this day, this is the core of most lines of feminism, and a cause of confusion to those who don't understand what modern sexism means. Some confuse sexism with misogyny -- which is disdain towards women -- while the two are separate. Sexism (at least in modern times) is a feature of a society where women are kept away from power, regardless of how respectfully they are treated. This is our heritage from the Victorian era.
As time went by, laws and traditions have changed as they always do -- slowly but surely -- and sexism (as well as racism) has become less overt and clear, but much of the essence -- less power for women -- sadly remains to this day (and this, too, will change, slowly but surely).