AshehougAgency

Women's Social History. Attitudes Towards Women and Their Activities in England, France and the USA from 1650 - 1920

The division of work between the sexes and women’s activities and their state of affairs have changed markedly over the last two centuries. The author of this book does not pretend to have found conclusive causes for women’s situation throughout the centuries, but rather seeks to describe and understand their position in the family, in the business world, and in society. What was women’s overall life structure, what were their survival strategies in the past, and how have they changed? In Women’s Social History, various answers are presented and discussed, in view of the substantial research accomplished in history of women’s studies since the1970s.

The study focuses on women’s condition in England, France, and the USA from the beginning of the seventeenth century to around 1920. The events and developmental tendencies during this period, in these countries, have been of great importance to major parts of the world. The author is particularly preoccupied with the effects of industrialisation on women’s lives. As Britain was a pioneer in this field, she bases her research particularly on British social history, while France and the USA are included for comparative purposes.

Women’s Social History is an attempt to write a so-called „history from below”: the lower strata of society are central in the account. At the same time, women’s history is in focus and the power structure between the sexes. Women’s self-understanding and self-confidence are central themes in the book. Their powerlessness is discussed, but also their strength and areas of influence within various social environments. Vogt does not present a linear development from oppression to liberation, but reveals instead diversity and variation.

This book pertains to everyone interested in knowing more about women’s history, about the origins of our present gender roles, and about women’s life and work in times past.

Contents: Preface/Introduction/Part I: Before Industrialisation 1600-1750. Family Structure, Economy, Town, Country, and Class/Farming and Home Industry/Women in Urban Industries Before 1770/Power, Gender, and Class/Part II: Attitudes Towards Women in Western Thinking Until 1850. From Aristotle to the Renaissance/Political Philosophy and Attitudes Towards Women During the eighteenth century. The Idea of Equality in Politics 1776-1816. The Notion of a Species Apart after 1790/Part III: Industrialisation and Women’s Labour. Industrialisation and the Labour Market/Attitudes Towards Women’s Work 1800-1914/Part IV: England 1790-1920: Women’s Lives. The Role of Work in Women’s Lives - An Overview/Women’s Activities in Halstead and Wigan/Married Women: Housework and Part-time Work 1890-1920/Power in Marriage: Divergent Interpretations/Part V: France and the USA in the nineteenth Century. France 1800-1920/USA - From Colony to Industrialised Country 1790-1920/Epilogue: England, France and the USA 1800-1920/Bibliography/Index of Subjects/Index of Names

Publisher: Universitetsforlaget AS 1991
ISBN 82-00-02922-0
279 pp, paperback