Not Only The Dangerous Trades: Women's Work And Health In Britain 1880-1914

by Harrison,Barbara

• ISBN13: 9780748401444
• ISBN10: 074840144X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-02-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Franci

Summary

Focusing on occupational ill-health in relation to women, this book examines the relationships between gender, work and illness from 1880 to 1914. It looks at the part played by feminist activists in debates about health and industrial work and shows how they went beyond the concerns of suffrage.

Table of Contents

List of Tables, Figures and Appendix	x	(1)
List of Abbreviations	xi	(1)
Acknowledgments	xii
Introduction: Setting the Scene	1	(18)
Beginnings	1	(1)
Intentions	2	(3)
Women Workers in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-century Britain	5	(5)
The Labour Market and Sexual Divisions	10	(2)
Occupational Health and Industrial Disease	12	(7)
Part I: The Problem	19	(118)
Chapter 1 Suffer the Working Day: Women's Work and Endangered Health	21	(30)
Barely Enough to Survive: Wages	21	(6)
All of the Day and All of the Night: Hours of Work	27	(8)
A Matter of Decency: Sanitary Conditions and Provision	35	(4)
Hot and Cold and Fresh Air	39	(4)
The Oppressive Power of Men at Work	43	(8)
Chapter 2 The `Dangerous Trades'	51	(29)
Conceptualizing `Danger'	51	(4)
Women in `Danger'	55	(1)
`Dangers at Work'	56	(4)
`White Cemeteries'	60	(6)
`Match-girls': The Other Story	66	(5)
Regulating Danger: The Reality	71	(9)
Chapter 3 Work, Maternity and Domestic Labours	80	(26)
Maternal Health and Infant Mortality	80	(8)
Lead and Reproductive Damage	88	(4)
`Sweated` Work and the Home as a Place of Paid Work	92	(14)
Chapter 4 Out of the Factory: Health and Work in Non-industrial Occupations	106	(31)
Domestic Service	106	(5)
Serving Others in the Public Domain: Shop Assistants, Barmaids and Waitresses	111	(4)
Into the Office: Clerks and Typists	115	(4)
Professional Work	119	(18)
Teaching	120	(4)
Nursing	124	(4)
Women factory inspectors	128	(9)
Part II: Responses	137	(111)
Chapter 5 State Intervention: `Protective' Legislation and Women's Health	139	(24)
State and Society 1880-1914	140	(3)
The State and `Protective' Factory Legislation: Precedents	143	(3)
State Intervention and Women's Work: The Response from 1880	146	(1)
Capital, Labour and the State: Employers	147	(5)
Occupational Ill-health: The Failure of State Intervention	152	(3)
Women, Men and the State	155	(8)
Chapter 6 Medical Men and Women's Occupational Ill-health	163	(18)
Early Debates	164	(2)
In the Service of the State	166	(4)
The Medical Construction of Knowledge of Women's Occupational Ill-health	170	(3)
Doctors and Industry	173	(2)
Medical Surveillance: Success or Failure?	175	(6)
Chapter 7 `Missionaries of the State': Women Factory Inspectors and Women at Work	181	(19)
Mounting the Campaign	181	(3)
Eventual Success	184	(2)
Becoming a Woman Factory Inspector	186	(2)
Working Days and Working Nights	188	(2)
Perspectives on Women's Occupational Health	190	(2)
Gender Divisions in the Service of the State	192	(8)
Chapter 8 Women, Feminism and the Politics of `Protective' Legislation	200	(23)
Lining up on `Protective' Legislation	201	(3)
Division and Dissent	204	(4)
Feminism, Work and the `Protection' of Health	208	(5)
Women, Trade Unionism and Working Conditions	213	(2)
Working Women, Legislation and Health	215	(8)
Chapter 9 A Concluding Discussion: Toward a Feminist Analysis of the State, Women's Paid Work and Occupational Ill-health	223	(25)
Preventing Occupational Ill-health: A Failed Approach?	224	(5)
`Protective' Legislation: Intentions and Consequences	229	(3)
Capitalism and Patriarchy: Men's Interests and the Subordination of Women	232	(5)
The State: Toward a Feminist Analysis	237	(2)
Feminist Politics and Women's Resistance	239	(3)
Talking about Women	242	(6)
Appendix Chronology of Women's Inspectorate Personnel 1893-1921	248	(4)
Bibliography	252	(21)
Index	273