Women, Occupations and Work in the Victorian Censuses Revisited

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4494498
AutoresEdward Higgs (University of Essex), Amanda Wilkinson (0000-0002-4212-1076, United States Census Bureau)
Ano2016
Volume81
Fascículo1
Páginas17-38
Data de publicação2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHistory Workshop Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/hwj/dbw001
OpenAlexW2344210041
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas16
Referências citadas9

There has long been a tendency amongst historians to view the Victorian censuses of England and Wales as a problematic source for studying the work of women. This article examines some of the key works underpinning this claim and shows their shortcomings, especially in relation to their extrapolation from isolated local studies to the national picture. Drawing upon comparisons between local census returns in East Anglia and London, and other nominal records, the authors show a high degree of agreement between the occupations of women found in the various sources. The range of occupations indicated in the census, and changes therein over time, fit what historians know of the changing economies of the localities studied. The provisional conclusion is that the nineteenth-century census returns are a reliable source for the study of women’s work in the period, and this opens up new fields of study.

Census · Demographic economics · Economics · Geography · Population · Relation (database) · Sociology · Underpinning · Work (physics) · Data Analysis and Archiving · Demography · Engineering · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History