The politics of work

Feminism, Professionalisation and Women Inspectors of Factories and Workshops[ 1]

Bibliographic Data

ID4349139
AuthorsRuth Livesey (0000-0001-8976-1380, Royal Holloway University of London, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume13
Issue2
Pages233-262
Publication date2004-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWomen s History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0961-2025 • E-ISSN: 1747-583X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09612020400200391
OpenAlexW2005930624, W4253669150
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited5

This article is a case study of the first women appointed as official government factory inspectors in Britain. It uses the diaries, memoirs and official documentation left by these women – most notably, Lucy Deane – to explore the tensions surrounding the meaning of ‘work’ and the shifting alignments within the women's movement in 1890s Britain. The article questions existing feminist interpretations of both the work of the women inspectors and the way in which it affected the intellectual concerns of the turn of the century women's movement. Rather than bringing about an increased cross-class identification between upper-middle and working-class women, this study argues that the women factory inspectors relied upon aristocratic patronage and an increasing sense of class distinction between themselves and working-class women to reinforce their professional identities

Documentation · Feminism · Memoir · Middle class · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Women's work · Working class · Engineering · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Psychology · Mechanical Engineering

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