Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Period 1
3-5/03
Compare and contrast the roles of British working women in the preindustrial economy)
before 1750) with their roles in the era 1850-1920. (AP Question #3, 1998)
Women in the time period before 1750 to 1920 faced many changes that gave
them more rights and job opportunities. In the early eighteenth century, women had
practically no rights whatsoever, always obeying the command of men. One of the most
common occupations would be something that is somehow interacted with the fields of
domestic work. As time progressed onto the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many
things for women changed. In the era between 1850-1920, women inherited much more
rights such as having control over their own money and property. Also beginning in 1914,
women tackled the jobs, which had been held mostly by men because there was a
shortage in labor since men were being called into the military for World War I. This
opened up a door to a whole new world for both the sex. Women could now work the
jobs they dreamed about, and men were now able to work side by side with women,
although there were those who rejected this. Women were now working in offices and
even holding positions in the government. This was mainly due to their hard work and
suffering and then received the right to vote as soon as WWI was over (1918).
I. Preindustrial economy (before 1750)
A. Average wome.. -011"
1. Women's marria~,",
a. Purpose of marrying was to provide husband respect and children
i. Wife obeyed and labored as the husband commanded
ii. Poor women gave birth every 24-30 months
iii. Rich women gave birth as often as every year
b. Women's only inheritance from father was dowry, which can be
clothing, jewelry, investments, and even land.
c. Women could not marry without a dowry
2. Rural women
a. Their average daily work was...
i. cook
ii. spin and weave
iii. garden
iv. make candles and soaps
v. brew
vi. take care of cows and chickens
vii. milk the cows
viii. make cheese
ix. gather eggs
baby-sitting
shopping
cooking
cleaning
c. Domestic servants
i. Young girls would be dispatched from family to be a servant
One out of every three girls between the ages of fifteen
and twenty was a servant
d. Midwives
i. Midwives are usually women who assist other women in
childbirth
e. Prostitutes
i. Although there were not as many (compared with 19th_20th
centuries), it was still common
B. Separation of role by gender
1. Women
a. Women and children ...
i. worked in the kitchen
ii. did housework
2. Men
a. Men worked in the fields
II. Era of 1850-1920
A. 1850-1914
1. Women were now working but were paid less than men
2. Newer jobs
a. Number of school teachers increased dramatically
b. Women found jobs as...
i. department store clerks
ii. stenographers
iii. secretaries
number of secretaries increased twelve times in 1910
compared to 1890.
post office and government clerical positions went from
8% (1861) to more than 50% (1911)
c. Large numbers of women left domestic service to work in ...
i. industry
ii. transportation
iii. offices
d. Cafes and restaurants employed thousands of women
e. Women became highly visible as...
i. bank tellers
ii. mail c:arriers
iii. police officers
f. Piece work
i. Piece work was a variety of wage labour in which workers are
paid per unit of production instead of by labor time
This was possible with the invention of seweing
machine
3. Other Jobs
a. Prostitutes were found all over Europe
b. Nursing gradually became a respected profession
c. Domestic work was still common
d. Servants and maids still existed
I
by men due to labor shortage developed as many men were called to serve
-'
i.
these new changes, some jobs still remained common such as domestic servants,
maids, and prostitutes. The biggest cause that led to women equality was VMlI, which
gave an opportunity for the women to show the world that they were capable of doing a
man's job.
Works Citied
McKay, John P. A History of Western Society, Fifth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1995
Merriman, John A History of Modem Europe, First Edition. W.W. Norton & Company,
1996
Smith, Bonnie G. Changing Uves. D.C. Heath and Company, 1989
Anderson, Bonnie S. and Zinsser, Judith P. A History of their Own, Volume II. Harper &
Row, Publishers. 1989