Evidence of women's waged work from household accounts, 1644-1700 : three case-studies from Devon, Somerset and Hampshire
This thesis examines women's waged work from 1644 to 1700 in the south-west of England. Household account books provide evidence for three estates: Leyhill (Payhembury, Devon), Herriard Park (Herriard, Hampshire) and Barrow Court (Barrow Gurney, Somerset). Three issues which affected women's working lives in the seventeenth century, and which to some degree remain in the twenty-first century, are explored and analysed. The first section looks at the gender distribution of labour and confirms that women were concentrated in the casual workforce. It also explores the gender division of labour, examining the tasks performed by men and women and concluding that the allocation of tasks in reality did not adhere to early modern gender ideology, with women working in every sector of the economy and a large proportion of female workers labouring in agriculture. However, within these sectors a flexible gender division of labour is present. The second section looks at women's wages and the gender pay gap debate. It shows that men were paid more than women and uses a task analysis to show that the gender division of labour and differences in strength between men and women did not affect the wages paid to a substantial
Dudley, I.
Evidence of women's waged work from household accounts, 1644-1700 : three case-studies from Devon, Somerset and Hampshire. This thesis examines women's waged work from 1644 to 1700 in the south-west of England. Household account books provide evidence for three estates: Leyhill (Payhembury, Devon), Herriard Park (Herriard, Hampshire) and Barrow Court (Barrow Gurney, Somerset). Three issues which affected women's working lives in the seventeenth century, and which to some degree remain in the twenty-first century, are explored and analysed. The first section looks at the gender distribution of labour and confirms that women were concentrated in the casual workforce. It also explores the gender division of labour, examining the tasks performed by men and women and concluding that the allocation of tasks in reality did not adhere to early modern gender ideology, with women working in every sector of the economy and a large proportion of female workers labouring in agriculture. However, within these sectors a flexible gender division of labour is present. The second section looks at women's wages and the gender pay gap debate. It shows that men were paid more than women and uses a task analysis to show that the gender division of labour and differences in strength between men and women did not affect the wages paid to a substantial
evidence woman wag work household account three_case studies devon somerset hampshire examine woman wag work south_west_england household account book provide_evidence estate devon park hampshire barrow court barrow somerset issue_affect woman_work life degree remain explore analyse first_section look gender distribution labour confirm woman concentrate casual workforce also_explore gender division_labour examine task perform men_woman conclude allocation task reality adhere early_modern gender_ideology woman_work every sector economy large_proportion female worker labour agriculture however within sector flexible gender division_labour present second_section look woman wage gender pay gap debate show men pay woman use task analysis_show gender division_labour difference strength men_woman affect wage pay substantial