The 19th century was a key period in feminist history, where predominantly middle class women were campaigning for the vote, property rights for married women, access to higher education, access to all the professions and improved working conditions. A major obstacle to this was the fact that woman were vulnerable during pregnancy, and a child was often a economic burden, forcing many women to be dependent on men throughout this period12. In this essay I will be examining the role of women in Morris's and Bulwer-Lytton's utopias, both written in the late 19th century, and how they relate to the feminist movement at the time. I will then compare it to the role of women in Piercy's utopia, written in 1976. By this time the majority of the goals that the 19th century feminist movement had evolved and focused more on sexist ideology, as many legal rights had been won yet still inequality was apparent.3 The Coming Race, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, describes the story of a man who comes across a civilization, the Vril-ya who are descendants from mankind, living underground. The key to their development is the harnessing of a fluid called Vril which they use in all areas of their life, as energy, as a weapon and to enhance their brain capabilities. They live in an harmonic utopian society where everyone has equal status and freedom to pursue any occupation. This equality also extends to the rights of women, the Gy-ei. As children they are required, as are male children, to work for the community in an area of their choice, ranging from household work to slaying monstrous reptiles in order to keep the community safe. The author even states that female children are often preferred for the role of exterminator as they are "by constitution more ruthless under the influence of fear and hate"(73). They are then free to pursue an education in any branch they choose, and again are considered intellectually superior in many mystical branches of reasoning. Importantly, the women tend to be physically stronger than the men, and have a superior power over the use of Vril. "Thus they can not only defend themselves against all aggressions form the males, but coul