Schwartz, Laura (2013) 'What we think is needed is a union of domestics such as the miners have' : the domestic workers' union of Great Britain and Ireland 1908-14. Twentieth Century British History, 25 (2). pp. 173-198. doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwt028 ISSN 0955-2359.

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Abstract

This article provides the first in-depth account of the Domestic Workers’ Union of Great Britain and Ireland (est. 1909–10). In a period of intensifying labour unrest, young female servants working in private homes attempted to organize their own trade unions. Short-lived and disrupted by the First World War, their efforts left little formal documentation and have never before been the subject of historical study. Their activities can, however, be traced in the pages of women’s movement periodicals and the correspondence columns of local and radical newspapers. The idea of organizing domestic servants as workers was an anathema to many in both the labour and the women’s movements. Nevertheless, the Domestic Workers’ Union provides a fascinating case study of how, in this moment of exceptional social unrest, elements of trade unionism and feminism converged to challenge entrenched gendered divisions between the public and the private, the workplace and the home.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Feminism -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Feminism -- Ireland -- History -- 20th century, Labor unions -- Women -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Labor unions -- Women -- Ireland -- History -- 20th century, Household employees
Journal or Publication Title:	Twentieth Century British History
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0955-2359
Official Date:	12 November 2013
Dates:	Date Event 12 November 2013 Published 1 July 2013 Accepted
Volume:	25
Number:	2
Page Range:	pp. 173-198
DOI:	10.1093/tcbh/hwt028
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	9 August 2016
Date of first compliant Open Access:	9 August 2016

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