Women may be failing to make it through the glass ceiling at work because of the influence of Victorian literary heroines. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports.

WEARING her tattered, moth-eaten wedding dress, her house crumbling around her, Miss Havisham is one of Victorian literature's most famous characters, but her sinister influence may stretch even further than the pages of Great Expectations.

New research by Dr Andrena Telford, a lecturer at Northumbria University's Newcastle Business School, suggests that women are being kept out of top jobs because of the way heroines are portrayed in Victorian novels.

Her findings, which are published next month in a new book, Interpreting the Maternal Organisation, identify four stereotypes found in the novels of Charlotte Bronte, Mrs Gaskell, Dickens and Thackeray: Maiden, Mother, Mistress and Monster.

"I have been looking at the images we have of professional women and it became obvious very quickly that there are often problems when it comes to them wielding power. There is still a lot of mistrust about women in management positions and I started thinking about where these ideas might come from," she says.

"Although I work at Newcastle Business School, I have a background in English literature and did a masters degree on the Victorian novel. That seemed like as good a place as any to start.

"As I began to read, I realised there were some fairly persistent archetypes and they continue to have an influence on the way women managers are perceived - both by their colleagues and themselves."

According to Dr Telford, maidens such Dora Copperfield can be sweet and obedient but also dependent or even flighty, while mothers such as Agnes in David Copperfield are seen as either caring or neglectful.

Becky Sharp, from Vanity Fair, is the archetypal mistress, lively and flirtatious but also a temptress with no qualms about using her sexual allure to advance her career. Miss Havisham epitomises the monster - mad and possibly evil, although Dr Telford has tried to find a more appealing side to her character.

"I wanted to find positive and negative characteristics for each of the four stereotypes and it was quite hard with the monster. I suppose she's someone who rises above the rest of the workforce, a goddess or an iconic figure. But even if you do take the more positive characteristics into account, women are still being stereotyped."

There is currently only one female boss among Britain's top 100 companies and a recent study showed that the number of female company directors is actually falling. But can literature written more than 100 years ago really account for it?

Dr Telford admits the number of people reading Victorian literature is dwindling but still argues that its characters exert a powerful influence.

"I'm still at a fairly early stage in my research and it is hard to say why these images are so persuasive but it is fair to say that each generation of novelists is influenced by their predecessors and, over time, these stereotypes have become part of popular culture.

"During the Victorian era, there was a deep distrust of femaleness and of female power particularly and this does endure although I wouldn't want to ignore other, more obvious factors."

Dr Telford's examination of Victorian literature is just part of a wider study. She plans to look at images from later novels, as well as film, and has already carried out research into 19th Century medical writing.

"Your hair would stand on end if you read some of these things. The way they describe women's bodies is unbelievable - it's as if there is something magical about them but not in a pleasant sense.

"The word hysteria comes up again and again. Women are seen to be at the mercy of raging hormones, They're far more emotional than men, less rational and therefore more likely to abuse power. They're closer to madness, they're not to be trusted and they're less able to cope with the stresses and strains of life. Sadly, there are a lot of people out there who still hold those sorts of views."

But she believes things are slowly changing.

"I look at my female students now, and they're not bound by stereotypes. They been brought up in a much more egalitarian way and they don't perceive the same differences as they counterparts from an older generation. They have broader horizons, more options open to them. If they want a family and a career, they can have it - in fact, it's almost expected of them."