“…The Most Free From Objection …” The Sexual Division of Labor and Women's Work in Nineteenth-Century England
- 1 December 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Journal of Economic History
- Vol. 47 (4) , 929-949
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700049871
Abstract
Most explanations of trends in women's work emphasize women's role in childbearing, along with technological and organizational changes in production. The explanations neglect an important factor: the need to control sexuality in order to secure demographic order. Segregated employment enabled almost all family members to work, while discouraging heterosexual intimacy. Nineteenth-century attitudes illustrate the anxiety felt when unrelated men and women worked together. The argument is tested by correlating regional variation in illegitimacy, as a measure of failed social control, with variation in sex segregation.Keywords
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