The Women's Movement and Women's Employment in Nineteenth Century Britain: (Routledge Research in Gender and History)

In the first half of the nineteenth century the main employments open to young women in Britain were in teaching, dressmaking, textile manufacture and domestic service. After 1850, however, young women began to enter previously all-male areas like medicine, pharmacy, librarianship, the civil service, clerical work and hairdressing, or areas previously restricted to older women like nursing, retail work and primary school teaching. This book examines the reasons for this change. The author argues that the way femininity was defined in the first half of the century blinded employers in the new industries to the suitability of young female labour. This definition of femininity was, however, contested by certain women who argued that it not only denied women the full use of their talents but placed many of them in situations of economic insecurity. This was a particular concern of the Womens Movement in its early decades and their first response was a redefinition of feminity and the promotion of academic education for girls. The author demonstrates that as a result of these efforts, employers in the areas targeted began to see the advantages of employing young women, and young women were persuaded that working outside the home would not endanger their femininity. Ellen Jordans treatment of the expansion of middle class womens work is perhaps the most comprehensive available and is a valuable complement to existing works on the social and economic history of women. She also offers new perspectives on the Womens Movement, womens education, labour history and the history of feminism.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: The question of middle class women's work Part II: The Constraints of Women's Work Chapter 2: The constraints of gentility: The seperation of work and home and the emergence of the male-breadwinner norm Chapter 3: The constraints of feminity: The domestic ideology Chapter 4: What was 'women's work'? The patriarchal household and employers' 'knowledge' Part III: Strong-minded women Chapter 5: Bluestockings, philanthropists and the religious heterodoxy Chapter 6: Girl's education, governesses, and the ladies' colleges Chapter 7: Female philanthropy and the middle class nurse Part IV: The Women's Movement Chapter 8: Redefining Women's Sphere: Confronting the Domestic Ideology Chapter 9: Redefining Women's Work: Creating a Pull Factor Chapter 10: Redefining Ladies Work: Creating a Push Factor

Review :
'Ellen Jordan's discussion of women's employment and the 'Women's Movement' meets its aim of deepening understanding of the social and economic factors influencing the expansion of women's work in nineteenth-century Britain.' - Megan Smitley, Business History Vol.42, No. 4, Oct 2000