The Library
Women in the regional economy : the East Midlands, 1700-1830
Tools
Lane, Penelope (1999) Women in the regional economy : the East Midlands, 1700-1830. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_THESIS_Lane_1999.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (29Mb) |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1365702~S1
Abstract
This study explores the processes of economic change and their impact on women's
working lives in the East Midlands region during the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. Drawing on a wide range of sources, for example, estate, probate, criminal
and poor law records, it offers alternative perspectives on the position of women in the
economy.
The first part of the thesis looks at the wealth creating and income generating activities of
'middling' women living in urban areas. Inheritance strategies delineated in men's and
women's wills do not indicate that women from the beginning of the eighteenth century
became less able to hold property or engage in enterprise. Industrial development in this
region encouraged women's economic participation and created additional opportunities
for those situated in industrial towns to extend their interests. The value of estate
records for the investigation of women's businesses is also discussed, and it is concluded
that while they have their limitations, these records can provide valuable insights into
women's commercial dealings.
Part two is concerned with the effects of regional specialisation on the work of labouring
women. There is very little evidence to suggest a shift in the sexual division of labour in
agriculture from the mid-eighteenth century. The types of tasks in which women were
engaged were generally no different in the early nineteenth century than they had been at
the beginning of the eighteenth. The continued move to pastoral farming reduced the
amount of agricultural work for women, especially for those in Leicestershire. The initial
expansion of dairying while giving rise to more dairymaids can be seen as promoting
growth in the domestic service sector rather than agriculture, since these occupations are
so very closely linked. The majority of women appear to have been engaged in domestic
service work prior to the eighteenth century, and limited work opportunities for women
helps explain the emergence of redundant female labour prior to 1700. It is also argued
that the expansion of domestic industry and a reduction in age at first marriage for
women in the early eighteenth century noted by historians was largely a phenomenon
generated by these conditions.
This study also includes the trends in wage rates for women over the period, it shows
that female real wages declined in comparison with those of males. The evidence
presented also supports the belief that women were paid a customary wage. However,
under certain circumstances some women could command wages comparable with those
of men. Finally, it is argued that the intensification of the trends described, in addition to
the inability of women to move between sectors of employment, led many women to
employ survival mechanisms that included the greater exploitation of 'criminal' activities
within the informal economy and their sexual relationships with men.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman |
||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Women -- Social conditions, Women in economic development, Women -- Employment -- England -- East Midlands -- History -- 18th century, Women -- Employment -- England -- East Midlands -- History -- 19th century, East Midlands (England) -- Economic conditions -- 18th century, East Midlands (England) -- Economic conditions -- 19th century, Businesswomen -- -- England -- East Midlands -- History -- 18th century, Businesswomen -- -- England -- East Midlands -- History -- 19th century | ||||
Official Date: | June 1999 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of History | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Berg, Maxine, 1950- | ||||
Sponsors: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) ; Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery | ||||
Extent: | viii, 335 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year