This is a good point. Your general point about snobbishness is one I had noticed; it really hit home for me when I realized that in the works of Jane Austen, the word "condescend" was used in a positive, or at least an ambiguous, sense.
I do think that women were expected to do a little more than be social, though. A good wife was capable of running a house, at least, and the lady of the manor would be expected to attend to the poor of the district, personally if possible. Jane Austen paints a very vivid picture of the domestic pleasures of rational family intercourse, and I'm looking for a word for someone who, while otherwise a good sort, lacks an appreciation for that, and takes pleasure only in the fuss and flurry of a ball room.
However, just because Jane Austen appreciated it doesn't mean that society in general did, and would therefore have a word for it. Perhaps my best bet is to use some sort of double negative--"did you believe I had no domestic pleasures?" or something of that sort.
I do think that women were expected to do a little more than be social, though. A good wife was capable of running a house, at least, and the lady of the manor would be expected to attend to the poor of the district, personally if possible. Jane Austen paints a very vivid picture of the domestic pleasures of rational family intercourse, and I'm looking for a word for someone who, while otherwise a good sort, lacks an appreciation for that, and takes pleasure only in the fuss and flurry of a ball room.
However, just because Jane Austen appreciated it doesn't mean that society in general did, and would therefore have a word for it. Perhaps my best bet is to use some sort of double negative--"did you believe I had no domestic pleasures?" or something of that sort.