What is a good thesis statement for the role of women in the 19th century in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?

To find a thesis statement, one must define the role(s) of
women in this period. Austen actually shows a fairly broad range of roles of women in
the 19th century (though published in the 19th century, Pride and
Prejudice was actually written in the late 18th century) in Pride
and Prejudice. The range spans from Lady de Bourgh to Mrs. Younge and from
Lydia to Miss Darcy and Miss de Bourgh.

The most active
role is represented by Lady de Bourgh. She is not only nobility who hostesses dinner
parties and intimidates guests, she also has the full running of the estate (most
probably with the aid of a steward though none is specifically mentioned) and the
village of peasant who work on the estate. Along with managing the estate's agricultural
productivity, she also ensures that the ill are tended to, the quarrelsome are
admonished, the aged are cared for, and all other social dynamics are provided for so
that the village is peaceful as well as productive. This may seem insignificant since we
of modern times have little concept of what running an estate in the 19th century
encompassed, but in reality it was something akin to administering a small modern
hospital full of able bodied workers, the infirm and aged, those needing to be fed and
those needing attention.

Mrs. Younge, a widow, represents
an educated, genteel working class woman who has sufficient background, breeding, and
cultivation to be an acceptable teacher and (ironically) moral guide for a girl of Miss
Darcy's breeding, social position, family connections, and expectations. A common myth
is that the role of women at this period was to remain "uneducated." True, women did not
have access to university education or to the range of subjects for study, but upper
class women of Austen's day were certainly not uneducated. This is one of the topics of
censure that Lady de Bourgh levels against the Bennet's: no governess and no tutors were
provided the girls for their education:

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No governess! How was that possible? Your mother
must have been quite a slave to your
education.

Lady de Bourgh and
Mrs. Younge represent one role of women in this period: active participation in economic
activities (earning money) and in the directing and molding of individuals in society,
one in an administrative capacity and one in education.

The
most discussed role is represented by Charlotte Lucas. Women were expected to marry.
Women might work as governesses, dressmakers, domestic servants, or farm laborers for a
time but were expected to marry. Charlotte so well depicts this imperative that she
marries Mr. Collins, whom few readers really like, in order to have some independence
from her parents, a home, and some degree of choice.

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I ask only a comfortable home; and considering
Mr. Collins's character, connexions, and situation in life, I am convinced [of] my
chance of happiness ....

The
most emphasized role for women is that of purity and chastity. Books, such as Forsyth's
sermons, abounded on the purity of womanhood and its relevance for children. This is
represented by Lydia who demonstrates this role by providing the opposite principle.
Where purity and chastity hold a family together and lead to opportunities, Lydia's
choice divides and levels its hoped for opportunities--unless aided by an Uncle Phillips
and a Mr. Darcy. Your thesis might be: Though purity was required, the role of women
could be broader in scope in the 1800s than that of governesses, servants, and
wives.