Working women in France, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Where, when, and which women were in work at marriage

Bibliographic Data

ID12447393
AuthorsRichard L Zijdeman (International Institute of Social History), Richard Zijdeman (0000-0003-3902-3720, International Institute of Social History, corresponding author), Marco H D Van Leeuwen (0000-0001-6459-7051, Utrecht University), Danièle Rébaudo (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France), Jean-Pierre Pelissier (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Paris, France), Jean Pierre Pélissier
Year2014
Volume19
Issue4
Pages537-563
Publication date2014-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe History of the Family (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-602X • E-ISSN: 1873-5398
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1081602x.2014.967266
OpenAlexW2169504382
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited76

We look at women's labour force participation for the whole of France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We study to what extent young women were working at the time of their marriage, in which occupations, and how differences in labour force participation might be explained. Using a sample of 53,451 marriage records from the TRA project, we identify regional and temporal differences in rates of female labour force participation and in types of work in France between 1860 and 1986.We observe rather stable levels of female labour force participation between 1860 and 1950 of about 60 per cent, but higher levels in the second half of the twentieth century. Over time, women started to work across virtually all occupational sectors. Regional differences declined over time but continued to exist in the late twentieth century. We formulate a set of hypotheses to explain which women worked, taking into account their resources, as well as their expectations, in a male-breadwinner-dominated society. The results of our hierarchical logistic analysis indicate that women with fewer parental resources were more likely to work

Demographic economics · Domestic work · Economics · Labour economics · Paid work · Sociology · Women's work · Work (physics · Working hours · Demography · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Social Policies and Family

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