The woman as wife and mother: A Qualitative Study of the Role of Women as Wives and Mothers 1870–1920In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women's literature was mainly aimed at supporting traditional gender roles through advice on marriage and child-rearing. During this period, there was an emancipation in society that gave women more legal rights, while at the same time there was an intense discussion about how this emancipation, especially through higher education, could affect women's reproductive capacity. The primary role of women in this discussion was to stay in the private sphere and take care of home and family. Eliza Bisbee Duffey, a feminist writer, challenged these norms and the male narrative of women that had emerged in the 19th century. Through her book ’’What Women Should Know: A Woman's Book about Women, Containing Practical Information for Wives and Mothers’’, she wanted to give women advice and new information, both physically and morally, in order to be able to strive for a nobler being and become a worthy representative of the contemporary woman. The aim of the study is to analyse the expectations of women as wives and mothers between the years 1870 and 1920. Expectations from society and from women themselves through Duffey's book and her written words. The material is examined using a textual analysis, a gender and feminist perspective and a spatial perspective with a phenomenological background. By analysing Duffey's book and examining society's values and norms, I want to understand the expectations placed on women. The results of the study show that societal norms shine through in the author's words, but that she also challenges the narrative and gives women new knowledge in understanding her body and what her rights and duties are. This paper contributes to understanding what a woman's role as a wife and mother might have been at the turn of the 20th century.