“…The Most Free From Objection …” The Sexual Division of Labor and Women's Work in Nineteenth-Century England

Jane Humphries

The Journal of Economic History, 1987, vol. 47, issue 4, 929-949

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.

Date: 1987
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