How would you describe English society, including issues of social relationships, gender, social class, and social mobility, at the time this play was...

premiered in 1913, a
period during which gender and class roles in British society were changing rapidly. Shaw
himself was aware of these changes and generally favored them, regarding both the older, more
rigid class system and the patriarchal oppression of women as both morally wrong and
irrational. 

Conventions concerning social and sexual relationships varied
with class, with the middle classes opposing sexual activity outside of marriage but the lower
classes tending to have a more open attitude towards such relationships. In general, there was a
double standard in which having sexual relationships outside marriage proved a man's virility
but was considered improper for women. When Eliza states "And I'm a good girl, I am,"
she is referring to a large degree to her only selling flowers, not her body, a theme that
recurs towards the end of the play in her notions about marriage. 

The
rapidly changing role of women is reflected by Mrs. Pearce's concern about Eliza's role in the
household. For a single woman to live in the house of an unwed man would be improper unless she
fit into an established role such as that of a servant or relative.

Although
the play is, to a great degree, about social mobility, it also portrays a rigid class system, in
which socioeconomic status is reflected in speech and manners as much as money. A central issue
in the plot is what happens when people's self-perception, education, and behavior would place
them in one class but their income is that of a different class. Mr. Doolittle and Eliza are
both suddenly raised in class, but the Hill family portrays people of an aristocratic background
who are descending in class due to a lack of money. In all cases, this class dislocation is
portrayed as emotionally traumatic.