This article presents new evidence of gendered work patterns in the pre-industrial economy, providing an overview of women's work in early modern England. Evidence of 4,300 work tasks undertaken by particular women and men was collected from three types of court documents (coroners' reports, church court depositions, and quarter sessions examinations) from five counties in south-western England (Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire) between 1500 and 1700. The findings show that women participated in all the main areas of the economy. However, different patterns of gendered work were identified in different parts of the economy: craft work showed a sharp division of labour and agriculture a flexible division of labour, while differences of gender were less pronounced in everyday commerce. Quantitative evidence of early modern housework and care work in England indicates that such work used less time and was less family-based than is often assumed. Comparisons with gendered work patterns in early modern Germany and Sweden are drawn and show strong similarities to England. In conclusion it is argued that the gender division of labour cannot be explained by a single factor, as different influences were at play in different parts of the economy. I n Street, Somerset in 1551, Margaret Parsons, a servant, helped to plough a seven-acre field, 1 while in Knook, Wiltshire, in 1622, Robert Griffin put mutton 'into the pot over the fire to make broth and some provision for his wife being great with child and their children'. 2 Both Parsons and Griffin challenge our assumptions about the gender division of labour in early modern England, prompting us to think again about the types of work women and men did in this period. Each gave evidence about their activities to the courts: Parsons to the church courts in a tithe dispute, and Griffin a confession of sheep-stealing recorded at the quarter sessions. This article presents new evidence of gendered work patterns in pre-industrial England. It shows how records of work tasks from early modern courts can be classified and quantified to provide an overview of the gender division of labour. The findings reveal that patterns of gendered work
This essay examines the work patterns of housewives and female servants in rural England between the mid-fifteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries. Despite the fact that such women expended the majority of female work-hours in the rural economy, their activities remain a neglected topic. Here probate documents, wills, inventories and probate accounts are used alongside other types of sources to provide insight into women's work. The three parts of the essay examine the proportion of female servants employed in different households and localities, the types of work that servants and housewives undertook and the scale and level of commercialisation of four common types of women's work.(READ 30 April 2004 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT AT CANTERBURY)
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