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Women's Work, Gender Conflict, and Labour Markets in Europe, 1500-1900

Author(s): Katrina Honeyman and Jordan GoodmanReviewed work(s):Source: The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Nov., 1991), pp. 608-628Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Economic History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2597804 .

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Economicistory eview,XLIV, 4(I99I), pp. 608-628

Women'swork, enderonflict,ndlabourmarketsnEurope,I500-I 900By KATRINA HONEYMAN and JORDAN GOODMAN

T he position f women n the abour markets f Europe from he middleages to thebeginning f the twentiethentury as been thesubject ofa substantial ndvitalresearchffortnrecent ears.2n this rea ofenquiry,as so oftenn the socialsciences,greater ertaintyurroundswhathappenedthanwhy thappened.The central roblemn thehistoryfwomen'sworkis to explainthe nature fand changes n thegenderdivision f abour andthe persistenceof women in the lowest paid, least stable, and mostunrewardingccupations.3 wealth f detail s presentedn recent esearchon workingwomen n thepastwhich uggests frameworkor tsanalysis.The threemain features fthisframeworkan be identifieds follows.The

first nvolves an escape from the periodizationprevalent n social andeconomichistorywhich s inappropriateo thehistoryfwomen'swork ndhas previously esulted n faulty nd misleading ssumptions.The mostseriousofthesemisconceptions as been theattempto explaintheoriginsof women's oppressionwithin he context f the emergence f industrialcapitalism. he best research f recentyearshas clearly evealed hat abourmarketsn whichwomen face discriminationre ofvery ong standing ndwere not the creation fthe forces findustrialization.4The secondcomponent uggestsn emphasis n periods fgender onflictas of crucial mportance. t is by focusing n such crisisperiods,whichmight risefor number freasons, hat clearer ppreciationf thecausesof a particulargenderdivisionof labour can develop. Two particularlyintense eriodsofgender onflictn theworkplaceweremanifestnEurope:from he late fifteentho the end of the sixteenth entury, nd from heearlynineteenthentury.5othepisodes pparentlyccurred ecauseartisansand other killedmenbelieved heir osition f economic trengthnd thuspatriarchal owerto be underthreat.The outcomes n both cases included

1We should ike to thankPeterEarle forhis valuablecomments n an earlier ersion fthis rticle.2 The most recent general treatmentf the history f European women is Boxer and Quataert,Connectingpheres. ee also Hanawalt,Women ndwork; nd Bridenthal, oonz, and Stuard,Becomingvisible.Earlier surveys nd general tudies ncludeTillyand Scott, Women,work ndfamily;Hufton,'Women n history'; cott, Women n history'.3This articlefocuseson the literaturen women n industrial ccupations.The problemof womenin agricultural ork has been largely xcludedon thegrounds hatto do it justicewould require farlonger ssay. Notes 25-7refer o some ofthe iterature n this.4Bennett, 'History'; Thomas, Women'.5 Genderconflictn theworkplace an be arguedto be a continuous eature f thepolitics f work.By isolating wo momentous nstances f such conflict, e are not denying his, but it is during heseepisodes onlythat fundamentalhanges n the pattern fwomen's employment ccurred.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 609a more learly pecified endering f obs, newrestrictionsn the mploymentof women, nd a reductionn the value placed on women'swork ssociatedwitha greater mphasison theirdomesticposition n the family.The third eature f thisframeworkoncerns he nature f patriarchyndits institutions specially n times of exceptional risis.6 t is now morereadily cceptedthan in the past that the economic,political, nd socialsubordinationfwomenhas been at least partly etermined y patriarchalforces, lthough oo general a usage of patriarchy s an explanationhasweakened tspotential s a tool ofanalysis.Patriarchyan be defined s apervading ocietal ystem r set of nstitutionalrrangementshich ccept,reinforce,r structuremalehegemony. here s nothingnatural' boutthissystem. atriarchys a construct,eal and imagined.What s relevantn thepresentcontext s thatpatriarchymay seem inevitablebecause for longperiods ts forces re inactive nd apparentlynvisibleand sometimesvendenied),and itspresence s affirmednlywhenthreatened.t is at thispointof active' patriarchyhat tscharacteristicsecome open to examination.By consideringherecent ontributionsothe iterature ithin heframeworkas outlined,t shopedto show hat ignificantrogress as beenmade towardsan understandingf the long-establishedenderdivisionof labour and toindicate owitmaybe extended y furthermpiricalnvestigations.

IIn earlymodern uropean ities ccupational ategoriesormenand womenwere lready ifferentiatedndtherewas a dual orsegmentedabourmarket.7Men's workcomprised he primaryabour market.Jobswere skilled,orperceived s such; they onferred highdegree f status nd theywerewellrewarded othfinanciallynd nnon-monetaryays. n workshop roduction,the ocusofartisanalabour,wagesformed he esserpartof thepayment orwork;ofgreatermportance ere ustomaryightso advanced aymentsndcredit,widespread ystems f subcontracting,nd paymentsn food andlodgings. ocialrewards, tatus, steem, ndependencef upervision,ignified

treatment,ndmobility erepart ndparcelofthisworld.8 raftsmen oreoften resembled ndependent usinessmen han workers. n the buildingindustryn earlymodern ngland,for xample, raftsmenotonly uppliedtheir wnrawmaterials, utearned significantroportionf their ncomefrom variety feconomic ources.9 videncefromParisianworkshopsntheeighteenth entury ointsto a similar onclusion.'06 An approach upported y, among others,Bennett,Feminism',pp. 263-4.7 There is a largeliteraturen dual labour markets nd labour market egmentationut nothingwhich xplicitlyreats hesubjecthistorically.ee for xample ullivan,Marginalworkers;eich,Gordon,

and Edwards, A theory';Cain, Challenge'. For criticismsnd applications o the problems f women'swork ee Blau and Jusenius,Economists' pproaches',pp. i90-8; Walby,Patriarchyt work, p. 80-5.8 An assessmentfthevariousforms f abourpaymentsnd their hange ver time s needed. Usefulinsights re, nevertheless,vailable.See, for xample, onenscher,Work nd wages; dem,Journeymen';idem,Weavers';idem,Work and wages'; Rule, Labouring lasses;Hobsbawm,Labouringmen, p. 344-70. In sixteenth-nd seventeenth-centuryngland,wage earnersweregenerally ssumedto be paupersand regarded s unfree; ee Hill, 'Pottageforfreeborn'.9Woodward, Wage rates'.10Sonenscher, Work and wages'.

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6io KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANThe characteristicsf women's work already conformed o those of asecondary abour marketwhere employment as largely nskilled, f lowstatus, oorly aid, casual, seasonal, nd rregular.Workingwomen peratedwithin narrow ccupational tructure, eregenerallymoreprone hanmento long periods of underemploymentnd unemployment,nd enjoyedfewof the security uffers uilt ntomen's work. n industrial ctivitieswomenwere moredependent pon monetary age paymentshanwere men. Withlittleothercompensation,women workerswereparticularlyulnerable othe vagariesof the early modern economy.This reinforced he irregularrhythmfwork.Although dual abourmarket learlyxistedntheearlymodern conomy,its origin s difficulto trace. t seems lear,however, hatwhile henature fmen's workremainedonstant,undamentalhangesnwomen's mployment

patternsccurredn the atemiddle ges.We turn, herefore,othemechanismsby which women'sposition n the labour marketbecame secondary.Thetransformationfwomen'swork egan ntownswherewomen ecame xcludedfrom raftsnd skilledwork nd were elegatedo owpaidand owproductivityemployment.rior o this ubordination,edieval rbanwomenwere elativelywellrepresentedn a varietyfhigh-statusccupations,hough hepatternftheirwork was by no meansuniformcrossEurope."I In some northernEuropean ities,uch sBruges, eiden, ndDouai,women iguredrominentlyin the manufacturefhigh-qualityoollen loth, illingmanagerial ndotheresteemed ccupations.n other ities, owever,uch sCologne, lorence, ndParis,womenwere essconspicuousn suchpositions rwereentirely arredfrom hem.Similarly, omenparticipatedn long-distancerade nd in craftactivitiesnLondon andColognebut not nParis ndVenice.The explanationfor hisdisparitys notentirelylear,but t s certain hatmedieval uildswerenot alwayshostileto women; girlswereapprenticednd womenoccupiedofficialositionsnmanyguilds. n ParisandCologne,moreover,omeguildswererunexclusively ywomen houghmembership asopento both exes.'2In northern uropean cities,women ppearto haveoccupied highstatuspositions n the labourmarket hieflyn those economic activitieswhereproductionwas organized n the basisoffamily nits;that s, wherefamilymembers haredin the production f goods and servicesfor the marketratherthan sellingtheir abour.'3 High status derivedmainlyfrom theindependenceassociatedwith access to raw materials nd control overdistribution. s thefamily roduction nitbeganto ose ts hold overmarketproductionnLeiden, Cologne,Douai, andFrankfurtrom he ate fifteenthcentury, hepositionof women n the labour marketdeclinednoticeably.Organizational hanges n theeconomy f these citiesweakened hefamilyproduction nitas it strengthenedthermodesofproduction, otably mallcommodity roductionnd capitalist roduction. he main victims f these

I" The use and meaningof status n occupationss discussed n Howell, Women, roduction,. 24.For theposition fwomenn medieval urope see dem,Women, hefamily'; ennett,Women; acobsen,'Women'swork'. For a dissenting oice,see Kowaleski and Bennett,Crafts, ildsand women'.12 Howell, Women,thefamily', . 200; Wensky,Women'sguilds'; idem, tellung erFrau.13 Howell, Women, roduction,p. 24, 27-8. Howell uses the term family roduction nit' with asimilarmeaning o the family conomy' s defined y Tillyand Scott,Women, ork nd family, . I2.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 6iichangeswere womenwho, finding heiraccess to high statuspositionsincreasingly estricted, etreated rommarket roduction ltogether. con-omic forceswere clearly t work, but theywere not the primary ause ofthe changes nwomen'swork xperience. he patriarchal rder, ncreasinglyunder hreat rom heparticipationf women nmarket roduction, nsuredthat hese conomic hangesweredistributedifferentiallyetweenmen andwomen.The exclusion fwomenfromhighstatuspositionsn turn ervedto reinforceatriarchy ithin hangedeconomic ircumstances.'4Organizational hanges n industrial roductionwerecertainly esponsiblefor somechanges n theworking xperiences fwomen but a muchmoregender-inspired ovementwas on its way led by urban craft uilds. Theirstrategywas to attackwomendirectly s workers.This onslaught ookseveralforms. omeguildschose topursuea policyofbarringwomenfromparticipationn their ffairs. n some cities,this exclusionwas achieved nincremental tageswhile in others,women were simplyforced out. Infifteenth-centuryeiden,for xample,womenwerecompletelyxcluded ndtheguildsbecame male preserves. n Cologne,wherewomenhad activelyparticipated n the guilds during the middle ages, theirpassage intomarginalityas less direct nd immediate et equally effective. y the atefifteenthentury,lmost ll of thecity'sguilds had become male preserveswith heexception fa fewwhose ctivities,uch as needlework, mbroidery,and belt-making erebecoming efined s women's work.'5

Another ecoursewas the imposition f a gender dentificationf workactivitieswithin ndividualguilds. In earlymodernGerman towns,forexample, t became common for the tailors'guild to restrict he kind ofwork that seamstresseswere allowed to do. In general, eamstresses ererelegatedto workingwith old, used, or cheap cloth while male tailorsreserved heright o all other ypes.The bleaching nd dyeing rades lsodistinguishedminutely etweenmen'sand women'swork,thelatterbeingconfined o smallor used articles. n hatting,male guildmembers oughtto bar womentotally rommakinghats but when thisfailed,theysettledfor a compromisewherebywomen were confined o the least prestigiousworkofveilmaking, nd hatrepair.'6Evidence from number fEuropean economies, owever,ndicates hatthe most commonform f attackwas completelyo closewomen's ccess toparticularrades.Wherever hishappened heresultwas the same: therangeofoccupations pento womenbecameseverely estricted;nd becausethosethatwere available became defined s women'swork,theynormallyeasedto be attractive o men. In Geneva,themarginalityf women n thecity'sguild system ad becomewell established ythemid sixteenthentury. ewwomenremained n the skilledtrades;theirworkidentitywas generallyweak and theirwageswereparticularlyow. Apprenticeshipsorgirlswereconfined o a narrowrange of trades, such as those of laundress andseamstress nd, overall,girlsaccountedforonlya smallproportion f the

'4 Howell, Women, roduction,p. I74-83.5' Howell, Women, the family', p. 202-I3.16 Wiesner,Working omen, p. I78-80.

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6I2 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANtotal number of apprentices.Women were found in domestic service,watchmaking, extileproduction, nd working s seamstressesnd laun-dresses, but rarelyelsewhere.'7 In Frankfurt, trasbourg,Nuremburg,Meningen,Stuttgart,nd Munich,womenwere also excludedfrom largenumber f crafts nd, moregenerally,romheworld fwork.Male workersattempted o reduce competition or obs by singling ut and removingwomen. Journeymen emanded restrictions n women's work, even ininstanceswhere this worked againsttheirown economic nterests.Wiveswereprevented rom arning ecentwagesandwidows,who had beengivenunrestrictedights ocarry n their ormer usband's hop n earlyGermanguildordinances, ound hese urtailed.8 In Augsburg, or xample,widowswerenotpermittedokeep apprentices,nd ingeneral, herewas a growinghostilityowardswomenoperating ndependentlyf theirmen.19

Guilds did not, however,confine hemselves implyto restrictinghekinds of work womencouldpractise; hey lso sought o define heproperspheresof productive nd unproductivework in gendertermsalone. IncentralEurope duringthe seventeenth nd eighteenthenturies, onflictarose betweenguildsand householdproduction nitsover thedefinitionfproductive ork.20 uildsmen eared hat uralhousehold roduction, hichcould produce goods at lower cost thanurbanartisans,would underminetheir monopoly position. Guilds had previouslybeen hostile to ruralproduction, ut after he middleof the seventeenthentury, heir ttackwas directedsmuch twomen sproducerss atruralhousehold roduction.Guildsmen, therefore, oughtto debar the householdfrom the marketeconomy nd, thereby,womenfrom roductivework. Gender,rather hanindustrial rganization,ecame thedeterminingactor. n future, steemedproductiveworkwas to be a male sphere nd domestic utiesa female ndless respected ne.- The identificationf genderas the criterionn decidingwork values isalso evident n the rhetoric f guilds and citycouncils n earlymodernGermany.Prohibitions n women's work were arguedon the groundofgender lone. Some city ouncils eem to have beenunashamedly ostile owomenworkers ut were restrainedn theirdesireto exclude womenfromthelabour market ltogether ecauseofthe likelihood ftheirbecomingburden. Low paid casual occupationswere tolerated for this reason.Journeymen,oo, tookadvantage f the chorusof anti-female hetoric ysuccessfully ppropriating roductive asks which had previously een theresponsibilityf the master'swife nd daughter.2'The originsof the guilds' hostility o women are still very poorlyunderstood. hat itwas partof a complexprocess s beyonddoubt,but itsprecise ocation s unclear.Guilds,for xample,were nvolved n an intensepolitical trugglewith he state nd guild monopolies ver a widevariety f

'7 Monter,Women n CalvinistGeneva',pp. i99-204. See also Snell, Apprenticeshipf women'.18 Wiesner,Working omen, p. 3, I57.19Roper, Work,marriage nd sexuality', p. 62-8i.20 The followings based upon Quataert,Shapingofwomen'swork', pp. II22-35.21 Wiesner, Working omen, p. II-35, I94-8. See also Roper, 'Women,marriage nd sexuality',pp. i6-8i.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 6I3industrialworkwere themselves eingattacked.On the otherhand,womenwere also the target f both spiritual nd secular authorities;nstitutionssuch as marriage nd the familyweresubjectto profound ransformation.Whatever he explanation or thehostility,ts impacton workingwomenwas straightforward.ome urban womenretreated rom he abour marketaltogether,ndpresumablyound omerefugen thehome; others, owever,swelledthe casual and irregularabour market nd gravitatedowards hedistributiverades as well as towards arge-scale,non-artisanalndustrialproduction.22n theFlorentine oolandsilk ndustries,or xample,womenformed hemajority ftheworkforce,ppropriatingaskssuch as weavingwhichhad earlierbeenmalepreserves;n theBolognese ilk ndustryll ofthe weaverswere women. In both cases, the preponderance f womenworkers an be explainedby the exclusion f womenfrom rtisanal radesandbythe fact hat heoutput f these ndustriesonsisted fsimple lothsrequiringittle kill or capital.23 y contrast, hesilkindustriesn Lyons,Genoa, and Venice produced rich and complicated loths and the vastmajority f weaversweremale.24Therewasnothingnherentlyemale rmale aboutany activity, or werethe ategorizationstatic;what dentifiedendernd workwasthe ntersectionoftheeconomic nd gender ystems.n theperiodfrom he late fifteenthcenturyo themiddleofthe seventeenth, uilds,and through hem,maleartisans,were instrumentaln creating n altered deologyof genderandwork.The idea and reality f a female rtisanwhich was common n themiddleages became untenable n theearlymodernperiod.The privileges,the workidentity,nd the customary ights, rappings f artisanalworkvalues, became the exclusivedomain of skilledmen. By setting rtisanalwork partfromwork ngeneral, uildsmenwere lsoequatingwomenwiththeunskilled-a critical ignpost or the future. t is true,of course,thatmanyworkingwomenwere noccupations nrepresentedy guilds,buttheimportant oint s that t was theguildwhichprovokedgender onflictntheworkplace.The exclusion f womenfrom widerangeof ndustrial ccupationswasan urban phenomenon. he countrysideeems to have been devoidofthekindofhostilityowardsworkingwomen thatexisted n the towns.25 heboom n thedemandfor ural ndustrialabourbeginningnthe ate sixteenthand earlyseventeenth enturies welledthe numberof womenworkingn

22 WiesnerWood, Paltry eddlers';Wiesner,Spinstersnd seamstresses',p. 203-5; idem, Women'swork', pp. 67-9.23 Brown and Goodman, Women and industry'; oni, 'Proto-industrialization',. 3I3; Goodman,'Tuscan commercial elations', p. 337-8.24 Davis, 'Women n thecrafts';Garden,Lyon t es lyonnais,p. 225-8; Massa, La 'fabbrica';Rapp,Industrynd economic ecline, . 28.25 This is partly xplainedbythe absence ofguildcontrol ver rural ndustrial roduction.Historiansdisagree,however, ver theprecisenatureof genderdivisions n rural ndustrial roduction. ee forexample,Berg,Age ofmanufactures,p. I29-58; Hufton, Women and the family';dem Womenwithoutmen'; Gullickson,Sexual divisionof labor'; idem, pinners nd weavers, p. 52-3; Snell, Agriculturaland seasonal unemployment'; oberts, Sickles and scythes',pp. i8-9; Wrigley,Men on the land',p. 336; Boxer and Quataert,Connectingpheres,p. 42-4. These stress heexistence fclear divisions.Medick, Proto-industrialamily conomy',pp. 6i-3 and Quataert,Combining grarian nd industriallivelihood',p. I5i arguefor neutral ituation.Muchworkremains o be done.

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6I4 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANindustrial roduction.26t is very ikely hatwomen's abour was critical othe expansionof rural industrialproduction,especially that of textilemanufacture.By the late seventeenth entury,women's workin urban Europe hadsettled ntoa newpattern.No longer ssociateddirectlywith the artisanaltrades,womenwere now confinedo a narrow and of ndustries onsistingprimarily f textilemanufacturend the clothing rades.Outside ndustry,the chief reasofwomen'sworkwereretailing nd domestic ervice.

IIDespitethechangesn industrialrganizationhat ccurred n nineteenth-century uropewiththeir ttendant ressures n employment atterns, he

position f women n the abour market emained undamentallyhe same.The functionsperformedby men and women within the pre-factorymanufacturingectorpersistedn the nineteenthentury ut not withoutinterveningpheaval.The possibilityfrestructuringender elationsn thelabourmarketwasmomentarilyndicated y changesnproductionmethods,but ultimatelymen retained their monopoly of the more rewarding28 loccupations. Female labourplayeda critical ole in theexpansionof thevariousprocesses f ndustrialapitalist roduction.29 hilethefactory asthemost trikingeature fnineteenth-centuryndustrial ransformationnddependedheavily n womenworkers, heapfemale abourwas also used in26 There is now an enormous iterature n theexpansion f rural ndustryn earlymodernEurope.The field s surveyednClarkson, roto-industrialization.or market onditions nd background o thesedevelopmentsee Goodman nd Honeyman,Gainful ursuits. griculturalegionsmostfavoured or heexpansion of industrialproductionwere those with a large landlessor land-poor population. SeeGullickson, Agriculturend cottage ndustry'; uataert,New view'; Gullickson, pinnersndweavers;Holmes and Quataert, Approachto modern abor'; Quataert, Combining agrarian and industriallivelihood'.Many youngwomenwho would earlierhavemigratedo towns n searchof ndustrialworkand apprenticeships,owremained t home ontributingothefamily conomy. ee Snell, Apprenticeshipof women'; Berg,Age of manufactures,. I55; Monter,Women nCalvinistGeneva',p. 200; Carmona,'Economia toscana',p. 38. In addition, fyoung,unmarriedwomen remained n the countryside ntiltheymarried, hey ended o continue owork n thesame employment henmarried-see, for xample,Gullickson, pinners nd weavers, p. I29-6i and Hufton, Women,work and marriage'.This mayaccount, n part,for hegenerally tagnant opulations fEuropean ndustrialities;de Vries,Europeanurbanization; ohenberg and Lees, Urban Europe, pp. i06-36. The importance f youngunmarriedwomen n the labour forceduring he transition o factory roduction f textiles as been emphasizedforEurope, the United States,and Japan. See Tilly and Scott,Women,work nd family, p. I5i-6;Goldin and Sokoloff,Relativeproductivity'; axonhouse nd Wright,Two forms'.27 The bestaccount s givenbyGullickson nSpinnersndweavers, p. 46-85;idem,Agriculturendcottage ndustry';dem,Proto-industrialization'.28 This pattern s still not fully ccepted. Although arlyor more traditional istorians tronglybelieved that new opportunities,r even emancipation orwomen, accompaniednineteenth-centuryindustrial hange for exampleGeorge,England n transition;inchbeck,Womenworkers;nd Landes,Unbound rometheus),heweight f opinion s nowon theside ofthose like Richards, Women n the

British conomy')whoarguefor decline nwomen's conomicposition.Many of this atter roup lsofavour henotion hatbefore hecapitalist ra, womenhad enjoyed golden ge of economic pportunity,as suggestedby the workof Clark, Workingife.On thegoldenage see Hanawalt, Women nd work,pp. vii-xviii nd Bennett,History hat tands till'.29For the use of women's labour and the persistence f hand and intermediate echniques s analternativeo or in associationwithmechanization ee Berg, Age of manufactures,p. I45-5i and idem,'Women'swork',pp. 76-7. The role of children, articularlyn theearly factories, as recently eenquestioned y Freudenberger, ather, ndNardinelli,New look'. See also Heywood,Childhood, p. 97-I45.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 6I5the expansionof domestic ervice,30as the basis of some new urban andruraltrades, nd in theproliferatingrban sweatshops f latenineteenth-centuryEurope.3' Women, therefore, rovided much-neededflexibilitywithinthe contextof innovation,whilemen steadfastlymaintained heirdomination fbetter-paidccupations nd traditionalrafts.32From as early s the 820S, but also during he aternineteenthentury,gender relations n the labour marketwere temporarily isrupted.Anti-female entiments,kinto those prominentn earlymodernguildpolitics,resurfaced.Whiletherhetoric nd the exclusionarytrategies ereredolentof an earlier ge, the genderconflict f the nineteenthentury mbracednovel ocialconcerns. hemarital tatus fwomen ookon a newsignificanceas protective egislation, he cult of the familywage, and the ideologyofdomesticitynteracted o emphasizegender nequalityn the abourmarketand to establish hierarchical tructure femploymenthatpersists o thepresent.Thus, in nineteenth-centuryuropean abourmarkets, s marriedwomenbecame moreovertlymarginalized, oungwomen nd singlewomenpredominatedn thevisibleurban rades. n thetextile actories,or xample,they commonly ccounted for the bulk of the unskilledworkforce,33ndtheydominated omestic ervice ccupations nd some sectors fgarment-making n the towns nd citiesofEngland, France, taly,and Germany.34Later n the nineteenthentury,he service ector rovided ewopenings,particularly or unmarriedwomen. Single women found work in thedepartmenttore,whichappeared n the argerEuropeancities n responsetothegrowthfconsumerism.hese new retail utlets rovided mploymenton a grand scale; the Bon Marchein Paris, forexample, employed ,500salesassistantsn the 88os and theLouvre,3,500-4,000 in I900. Althoughsome men were employed n these stores,womenwere much preferredbecause of their heapness,becausetheywere sober nd polite, nd becausetheywereconsidered o be docile. The work was unskilled nd low paid,and forwomenwas usually urtailed nmarriage.36he introductionf thetypewritern the astquarter f the nineteenthentury estructuredlericaloccupations nd also providednewopportunitiesorwomen. Male workersgainedfromthis change,however,for,whilewomen were allocated owstatus ecretarialobs,men moved ntohighstatus fficework nbanks andinsurancecompanies.37 he majority f femaleclericaloccupationswere

30Tilly, Pathsofproletarianization';dem,Family,gender nd occupations'.31 Schmiechen, weated ndustries.32 They continued o use theapprenticeshipystem, ut, ncreasingly,heypreventedwomengainingaccess to the newesttechnology,nd thus, commonly, o the best jobs; Rule, 'Property f skill';Humphries,Sexual division flabor'.33 Richards, Women n theBritish conomy', . 346; Tillyand Scott,Women, ork ndfamily, . 82.The preponderancefyoung,unmarried emales n cottonfactories s also indicated n Hall, 'Hometurned', pp. 24-5. The workof Hilden, Working omen, p. 278-9, however, howsthat n the latenineteenthentury,n the milltowns n theNord, well over halfof all women workerswho marriedremainedn employment.Whythe Nord diverged rom hegeneralpatterns not at all clear.34 Scott and Tilly, Women'swork',p. 39.35 McBride, A woman'sworld', p. 665.36 Ibid., pp. 670-I, 679.37 Davies, 'Woman'splace'; Zimmeck, Jobsforthegirls',pp. I59-60.

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6i6 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANreserved or the unmarried,nd in most Europeanoffices, marriage aroperateduntilwell intothe twentieth entury.38Married women's employment ollowed n altogether ifferent attern.The precisenatureof theirwork s, however,difficulto ascertain.Manymarriedwomendid not enter heofficialtatisticsorother ecords) reciselybecause of their ocation n thesecondaryabour market nd becausetheirworkwas irregular,asual,and sometimes nlysemi-legal.39n manypartsof ndustrial urope,women ended o withdraw rom he morevisible reasofwagedwork-the factory nd the workshop-upon marriage, nd seekemploymenthat ould accommodate ousehold esponsibilities.40n Britainand Germany,histrendbegan before he midnineteenthentury,while nFrancethesocialandpolitical ressures iscouraginghegainful mploymentof marriedwomenbeganto emerge ater n thecentury.4'

Marriedwomenworkersnnineteenth-centuryuropewere o concentratedin urban domestic industry hat it is no exaggeration o speak of itsfeminizations one of theprincipal omponents f European ndustrializ-ation.42They clusteredn the clothingndustry,n variousforms f retailtrading,and in menial occupations like laundressing) hat resembledhouseholdchores,a pattern eminiscent f the earlymodernperiod.Themakingofclothes,forexample,had longbeen an important omponent fwomen'sworkand in most argecitiesof ndustrial urope,thepractice fthe handicraft radesof plain sewing,shirtmaking,nd button stitchingapparently rovedthe salvationof women with family esponsibilitiesnneed of an income.43 lenty f such work existed nd it was rareto findclothing irmhatdid notemploymanywomen thome n addition o thosein the factory rworkshop.From the 830s onwards, he numerous ccupations ubsumedwithin hegeneraldescriptionfclothing mployed housands fwomen n themajorEuropean cities. Sweated labour either in the home or in what wereeuphemisticallyermedfamilyworkshops sweatshops)prevailed n all theneedleworkingrades,wherewomenworked rregularlyor ittlereward.44The greater artof this workforce onsisted fmarriedwomen. n Berlinin I887, for xample, 5 percentof ll homeworkers eremarried,widowed,or separated women,45with an identicalproportion f these categories

38 It was the mid I930s before marriedwomen were employed n the BritishCivil Service; seeZimmeck, Strategies nd stratagems', p. 903-4, 922-4. On clericalwork in the postal services nGermany, rance,and Englandsee Nienhaus, Technological hange'.39This feature f under-recordingn the official ources s illustratedn many studies, ncludingAlexander,Women's ork, p. I I-4, 49-64;Roberts,Women's ork, p. I 7-22; Scott nd Tilly, Women'swork',p. 40; John,Unequalopportunities,ntrod.,pp. 36-4I.40 Typically t home and frequentlyobs like sewingor clotheswashing hat resembledhousehold

chores.41 According o Offen, Feminism, ntifeminism',. i83, 40 per cent of the femaleFrench abourforce n i9oi were married;Hilden, Working omen, p. 278-9, estimates he equivalent igure ortheNord to be 58 percent n the sameyear.42 Franzoi, . . Withthe wolf, pp. I49, I54; Boxer and Quataert, ds., Connectingpheres, . ioi.See also Boxer, Protectiveegislation', p. 47-5I; Jordan,Exclusion of women'.43 Franzoi, . . With the wolf, pp. I49-50.44 Alexander,Women'swork, p. 30-40; Boxer, Protective egislation', p. 45-7.45 Hauser, Technischer ortschritt',. i63.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 6I7employed s outworkersn Hamburgin I9I3.46 The introduction f thesewingmachine considerably xtended he possibilities or sweatshop ndhomeworking mployment orwomen. Not only did it allow women toreconcile omestic unctions ithwageearning, nd to complywith he atenineteenth-centuryoralists' eminine deal, but it permitted he clothingmanufacturerso make fulluse ofa cheapand flexibleabourforce t a timewhentheexpansion n the demand forready-to-wearlothing laced greatpressure n existingmethods fproductionnd suggested reater ubdivisionof tasks.47The garmentndustries f Paris, Hamburg,and London weretypicallyorganized n thebasisof outworkor a refined utting-outystem)makinguse of thelargefemale abour force vailable n the fast xpanding ities.48The systemwas capable not onlyof mass output, but also of the rapidexpansion and contraction rucial in a trade where extreme seasonalfluctuationsndemandoccurred.49 hiswasthecase in theclothingndustrygenerallynd inwomen'sfashionsnparticular. he womenwho dominatedthe labour force n thissector ufferedery rregular mployment.50A clear, yet complexgenderdivision f labourexisted n the nineteenth-century uropean garment radeswhichdistinguished orkers oth by thetaskstheyperformednd by the location n whichtheyperformedhem.The vast majority f outworkers erewomen, nd thosemen thatdid enterthesweating ectordid so as managers nd middlemen.5" en monopolizedsuch skilled workas remainedwithin he scope of thegenerally nskilledready-to-wearector. Specializing in tailoringand the productionofouterwear,men worked n small workshops nd abhorred he practiceofhomeworking.52 omen,bycontrast, peratedmainlynthemassproductionsector,at home, makingwomen's garments, nderwear,millinery, ndstandardworkmen's lothes.53 utwork nd homework lso interacted ithlarger caleproductionn other ectors f theclothingrade. n the Parisianflowermakingrade,forexample,which was partiallymechanized, largepartof theproduction rocesswas carriedout in thehomes of individualworkers r in smallworkshops.As inother rades, clear division f abourexisted,wherebymenwereresponsible or the dyeing nd cutting,whilewomenspecialized n shapingand branching hatrequiredmore manualdexterity.54While homeworkinguited the needs of many women, t did not endmen'santipathyowards ow-paid emale abour. ndeed, n some nstances,particularlyn theearlynineteenthentury,killed raftsmen ereangered

46 Dasey, 'Women's work',p. 243.47 Perrot, Femmeset machines',pp. I2-3.48 HohenbergndLees, Urban urope,p. I75-247.49Dasey, 'Women's work', pp. 232-4.50 Ibid., pp. 238, 243; Hauser, Technischer ortschritt',. i63.51 Hauser, 'Technischer ortschritt', . i6o and Dasey, 'Women's work',p. 235, although his wasnot trueof the male immigrant orkers,mostlyJews, n late nineteenth-centuryritish ities whotendedto be confined, r oftenassociatedwith sweated,unskilledwork; see Schmiechen, weatedindustries,p. 32-7, i89; Bythell,weatedrades,. I75.52 Scott, Men and women',p. 70.53 Dasey, 'Women's work',p. 235.54 Boxer, Women n industrial omework'.

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6i8 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANby the competition f cheaperand less skilled femaledomestic abour. Inthe early 820S, tailorsn the Saxoncity f Naumburg n der Saale believedtheir amilies' ivelihoods obethreatenednd their wntraining nderminedby thework ofseamstresses ngaged n dressmakingn their wn homes.55Similarly, ourneymen ailors n London in the i83os accused sweatshopwomen fundercuttingheir roduct nd of oweringheiriving tandards.6The expansionof domesticwork,an integral omponent f nineteenth-century uropean industrial evelopment,was the resultboth of marriedwomen'sneed to find ocially nd politically cceptable mploymentnd ofthe ncreasingubdivision ftaskswithin actory roduction.Mechanizationin one partof the workprocess,for xample, ften eneratedhegrowth fhomeworkn another;57nd the growth f largefactoriesould giverise toa division f labour that ncluded unskilled) asksthatcouldbe performedeasilyby handorby smallmachines t home. By makinguse of a plentifulsupplyofcheap female abour n a domestic etting,hecapitalists ot onlyreducedtheir abour costs by 25-50 per centon factory evels,58 ut alsodilutedthe powerof the artisanby interferingn the continuous trugglebetweenmenand womenfor ob recognition. hus the greater ivisionoflabour erved o ntensifyhegender egregationftheworkforcendfurtherconfirmedheposition f the primarynd secondary abour markets.59Workingwomen were thereforemployed, s before, n less skilledandlowerpaid occupations hanthemajority f menirrespectivefthenatureand locationof theirwork. Thus, young single women who performedsimilar asks to theirmale counterpartsn factorieswereas disadvantagedas theirmarried sisters who operated from home or in domestic-likeenvironmentsn occupationsthatwere almostexclusivelyfemale'. Thatwomen'spositionn the abour market emained ubordinaten the contextof economicand industrial hangewas by no means automatic,but wasmore the result f a number fpowerfulnteractingorces hatemphasizedwomen'sdomesticrole and men's position s family readwinners. heseforceswerepatriarchalncharacter,nd nclude he deology fdomesticity,60stateprotective egislation,6' hewidespreaddemandforthe familywage,and the craftsman'successful ffortsomonopolize echnologynd skill.

55Quataert, Shapingof women's work', pp. II22-3.56 Alexander,Women'swork, p. 3I-2; Taylor,Eve, pp. I0I-I7.57 A widelyrecordedphenomenon; ee forexample,Rendall, Origins f moderneminism,p. I7I-3;Tilly and Scott, Women,work nd family, p. I23-36.58 Boxer, Protective egislation', . 49.59Rendall,Origins f moderneminism,p. I55-8.60 Boxer, Protectiveegislation', . 47; Hall, Earlyformation'. ee also Rose, Proto-industry',. i9i.61 The Frenchlegislation f i892, which was supportedby a further ct of i900, is discussed nBoxer, Protective egislation',pp. 46-7. A similar hronology pplied to Germany. n Britain, tateinterventionnwomen'sworkbeganrather arlier,with he Mines Act of 842. The significancef thisis considered n Humphries, Protective egislation' nd John, Colliery egislation'. AccordingtoSchmiechen,weated ndustries,p. I34-60, theFactory ndWorkshopActsof 89i and i895 mayhavehelpedto driveproductionntodomestic nd otherunregulated onditions f abour.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 62IWhatever hegenderassociation f a new technology,t served to raisethe level of male skillrelative o thatof women. The sewingmachinewasquickly dentified ithwomenand the growth f unskilled, asual sweatedlabour, ndhomeworking.75t exemplifiedheposition f women, specially

marriedwomen, n latenineteenth-centuryndustrial urope.76 t providedwomen with the opportunity o integratewage earningwith domesticfunctions nd thus to conform o the ideologyof domesticity;nd as adomestic echnology,t served o emphasize hehierarchicalenderdivisionof labour and especiallywomen's positionas marginalized nd casualworkers.77Women's monopolyof the use of the typewriter orced arestructuringf skilled ctivities nd a heighteningfthegenderdivision flabourwithin lericalwork.Categories reviously ccupied by men becamefilled ywomen nd redefineds unskilled,s menmoved ntonewly reatedskilled obs.78Nineteenth-centuryechnologywas farfromneutral n its influence ngender ivisions n theworkplace. hroughmachinery,obswere onstructedwith the genderof theiroccupants n mind, ensuring hatwomen werecrowded nto low paid jobs whichemphasized heirpreviously stablishedgenderrole as supplementary age earners.79 he processwas frequentlyactivated yskilledmale unionists espondingo a perceived hreat fcheapfemalecompetitionwith ts potential orweakening atriarchaluthority.The institutionalnvironmentupported hemalecause,as theultimate oalof the skilledmen-the removal fwomenfrom he abourmarket- founda parallel in the concerns of other social groups. Patriarchal forcesunderpinnedwomen's subordinate osition n the labour market nd wereparticularly anifestn the actionsofthe state.

IVThe proletarianizationf female labour in nineteenth-centuryuropeprovoked xtensive ebate about theposition f women n theeconomy. n

Britain n the I840s and in France and Germany owards he end of thecentury, he visible participation f women in the labour market wasconsidered problembothmorally nd because it challengedpatriarchalpower.80 A rangeof possiblesolutionswas discussed, ncluding he totalelimination f women'swage labour,equal pay,and sex segregated pheresof work. The most popular answer, however,was protective egislationwhichattemptedo restrict emale nd child abour n factories nd mines.75 While higher, ndeed skilled,statuswas accordedto workperformedy men using the sewingmachine.76 Perrot, Femmes et machines',pp. 7, I2-3, I5-7; Hauser, 'Technischer ortschritt', p. I57-63;Offen, "Powered by a woman's foot" ; Offen, Feminism, ntifeminism',. i83; Dasey, 'Women'swork', . 228.77 It even became an 'instrumentf women's ervitude's suggested y Boxer, Protectiveegislation',P. 49.78 Davies, 'Woman'splace', pp. 248-59; Zimmeck, Jobsforthegirls',pp. I59-60.79Rose, "Gender t work", pp. ii8-28.80 Implicit n a good deal of the iterature; oxer, Protective egislation', p. 45-7; Hilden, Workingwomen, . i65; and Seccombe, Patriarchy tabilized'.

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622 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANSuch legislationwas introduced n Britain n I842, in Germanyn I89I,and in France in I892.81 It was designed to reinforce he position ofwomen as wives and mothers nd certainly elpedfurther o marginalizewomen's positionin the labour market.82German factory nspectors tthe turn f the twentiethentury, or xample,waxed yrical t the successof their abour legislation n returningwomen to the home.83Thus, aswomen were squeezed out ofemploymentn thepublic arena, theywereforced either into purely domestic activities or into homeworking rsweatshop employment. hough it has been argued that domesticworkwas a means by whichfactory wners n late nineteenth-centuryrancecould avoid the restrictionsmposed by the law, it is as likelythat thelegislation tselfprovidedthe capitalistwith the opportunityo removewomen from the factorynto the more economical environment f thesweatshop.84Althoughprotective egislation stablisheda precedentforimprovedworking onditionsforall workers, t was more significantndriving wedge between men's work and women's workin industry. texcludedwomenfrom ompetitionn importantrenas ofproduction ndoffered hemlittlealternative ut to work in unprotected laces wheregenderconflictwas minimal.85The marginalizationf female abour, n essential actorn themaking fthemodern amily, ascompounded ythepersistentdvocacy fthefamilywage.6 That the normof a breadwinnerwage did not become a realitybefore 9I4, does not detract romtssignificancen thenineteenthenturyas a principlethat tended to underminewomen's position n the labourmarket.87 he idea of an individualmale breadwinnerarning ufficientomaintain wife and children merged n mostpartsofEurope during hecourse of the nineteenthenturyn parallelwith an emphasison women'sdomestic ole, reducing heir conomicvalue and encouraginghe diffusionof the 'ideal' bourgeoisfamily orm.This familywage was an unrealisticgoal forthemajority fworking eople, yetit was supportedby most-womenas well as men-and becamea plankof male unionwagedemands.Men believed that with the introduction f a breadwinner age,women'sinvolvementn the labour marketwould be reduced.Theywould thus beless likely o competefor carce obs and todrivedown thepriceof abour.As a result,men'spositionn the abourmarketwould be greatlymproved,notonly bsolutely ut also inrelation o thepoweroftheemployers.88heattainment f the familywage would also strengthenatriarchy,ince adependent nd full-time ousewife rovidedmen withpowerandprivilegesin both thehome and theworkplace.89

81John, Colliery egislation';Boxer, Protective egislation'.82 Ibid.; Rose, 'Proto-industry',. i9i; Seccombe, Patriarchytabilized',pp. 63-4, 73-4.83 Quataert, Source analysis',p. I20.84 Boxer, Protective egislation', p. 49-50.85 Ibid., p. 55.86 Ibid., p. 47.87 Mark-Lawson nd Witz, From "family abour" , p. I54.88 Seccombe, Patriarchy tabilized',p. 55.89 Ibid., pp. 58-9; Rose, ' "Gender at work" , pp. I25-6.

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WOMEN S WORK IN EUROPE, I500-I900 623The conceptofthefamilywage,whichoriginated ith killedworkmen,also found upportn the state, mongcapitalists,ndin the middleclass.90Pressurefor ts introduction rew n Britainfrom arly n thenineteenthcentury, ut emerged n the continentnly from 85o. In France,wheremore womenremained n paid employment pon marriage han in mostother ndustrial uropeaneconomies, heperception fworkingwomen asa problem nd of the threat ftheir abourto the skilledworkingman aroserelativelyate.9' It was not untilthe i88os and i89os that male unionistsbegan to pressfor familywage,92 nd middle-class oncern ver the well-beingofchildren eightened emandsforwomento return o home dutieswiththefinancialupport fa breadwinningusband.93Fromtheearlynineteenthentury heconceptof thebreadwinner ageandthebourgeois amily ained urrency,ided bychangesnwork ractices,

of which the most importantwas the decline of familyhiring andsubcontracting.94onsequently,women became employed s individuals,competingwith men in the labour marketand earningan independentwage.95This threat o the ob securityfskilledworkerswas antitheticalothepatriarchalnvironmenthathad existed irtually nchallenged incetheearlierperiodofupheaval n thesixteenthentury. he pressure lacedonpatriarchy y nineteenth-centuryndustrial evelopments eawakened heneed to reinforce-ifnotredefine-patriarchaltructures.n the nineteenthcentury, atriarchyecame associatedwithmany eparatebut related ssueswhich,as theyunderminedwomen'seconomicrole and emphasized heirdomesticresponsibilities,trengthenedhepowerof fathers nd husbandsboth n the abour market nd athome.96 he growth ffeminism,fanti-feminism,nd of thepolitics ffertilityontrol, ll of whichbecame centralissues n the atenineteenthnd twentiethenturies, eed to be seen n thiscontext.By theoutbreak f the FirstWorldWar, Europeanworkingwomenwereburdenedby actions of the state and by a perniciousdomestic deologywhich onfinedhem o traditionalreasofemployment. ccupationsn thenew industries f the late nineteenthnd early wentiethenturies,uchasengineering,ar manufacture,teel, chemicals, nd electricity, hich hadgrowndirectlyut oftheanti-femalertisanal ector,wereeffectivelylosedto women.97

90Seccombe, Patriarchytabilized', p. 65-74. Murray,Property nd patriarchy', owever, onsidersthatthehistorical tructuringfpropertylong gender ines forreasonsof kinship)would have givenrise to the male breadwinnerdeology.91Hilden, Working omen,p. 278-9.92 This coincidedwith he deathof feminismn socialismwhichhad occurrednBritain n the 830s;Boxer, Foyerorfactory',. i99. See alsoOffen,Depopulation,nationalism';dem,Defining eminism'.93 Offen,Feminism, ntifeminism',. i83.94 The exclusionof women from heworkplacewas often rguedon economicgrounds, hat s thatwomen competedfor obs with men and drove down the wages for ll; Boxer, Foyer or factory', p.i96-8.95 Seccombe, Patriarchy tabilized',p. 66.96 Including killedmaleunionism, hefamilywage,a domestic deology, he notion fthe bourgeoisfamily, nd protectiveegislation.97 See for xample,Jordan, Exclusionofwomen'; Stockmann,Gewerbliche rauenarbeit';Wecker,'Frauenlohnarbeit'; urdy et al., 'R6les, travaux t metiers'. A useful surveyof women'swork inGermany an be found n Fout, 'Working-class omen'swork'.

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624 KATRINA HONEYMAN AND JORDAN GOODMANV

In recentyearsit has become clear that such periodsof transitionnEuropean historys theReformation,he ndustrial evolution,nd the riseof capitalism re of imited elevance o historiansfwomen'swork.98Whileindustrializationffectedhe structure f the genderdivisionof labour, twas not responsiblefor instigatingwomen's subordinate osition n thelabour market.The mostprofitableurrentpproach o an analysis f thissubordinationstemsfromHartmann's athbreakingiscussion ftherelationshipetweenpatriarchynd capitalism. he identifiedwosystems nderlyinghe patternof women's work-the economic nd what has been called the sex-gendersystem.99 istorically,hese ystems ave nteracted,ometimesn oppositionand confrontation,t others n unison,to create specific enderdivisionof labour. Economic forces nfluence he natureof women'semploymentwithin particular ex-gender ystem.The sex-gender ystem nd itsprincipal omponent, atriarchy,emainin thebackground o long as changeswithin he economic ystem o notimpingeon the operationof the system.But when changes n women'seconomic osition hreaten oupset heequilibriumfthe ex-genderystem,theresponse f thepatriarchal omponents to establish newset of rulesdefining he acceptable genderdivision of labour in the workplace.Themomentous istoricalpisodesof confrontationetween hese ystems avebeen few butprotracted. nlytwo have occurred etween he middleagesand the twentiethentury.One of the main conclusions o emergefrom ecentpublications s thatfemale work patterns and domestic preoccupations-the dialectic ofproduction and reproduction-were not solely or primarily eterminedby economic forcesbut by complex relationships etweenpatriarchyndeconomic materialism.Pleas for further esearch into the nature andoperation fpatriarchyre commonplace, ut it must be emphasizedthatpatriarchy hould be examined withinhistorically pecific ituations.1??The mostrewarding f these relikely o be majorperiodsofconfrontationwhen actions determinedby patriarchywere most clearlyrevealed.101There may indeed be, as Bennett suggests, many histories of manypatriarchies',102but this would notprecludethe dentificationf themost

98 See the comments y Thomas, Womenand capitalism'; lso Shorter,Women'swork'; Bennett,'History hat tands till'.99Hartmann,Capitalism, atriarchy'. ee also Neuschel, Review'; Seccombe, Patriarchytabilized';Rose, "Gender t work" , pp. II 9-20; Howell, Women, roduction,p. 27-46, I78-83; Walby,Patriarchyat work, pp. 5-69.100 he best discussionof the troublewith patriarchy an be found n Walby, Patriarchyt work,pp. 22-37. The mostrecent istorical orkwhich tresses his pproach an be found n Howell, Women,production. ee also n.99 above as well as Davis, 'Women in the crafts',pp. 7I-2; Rose, 'Gendersegregation', p. I78-80; Hilden, Class and gender'.One well-discussed xception s Stone,Family, exand marriage, p. I5I-2i8. See also Hanley, Family and state'.101Bennett, Feminism',pp. 263-4.102 Ibid., p. 262.

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