The Culture of Domesticity, also known as the Cult of Domesticity, describes a prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes during the 19th century in the United States. This value system emphasized new ideas of femininity, the woman’s role within the home and the dynamics of work and family. “True women”, according to this idea, were supposed to possess four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. The idea revolved around the woman being the center of the family; she was considered “the light of the home”.