Employment of Women

I

Introduction

Employment of Women, percentage of adult females in a given population that work for pay, and the conditions under which they work. The role of women in the workforce varies according to the structure, needs, customs, and attitudes of the societies in which they live. In prehistoric times, women and men participated almost equally in hunting and gathering activities to obtain food. With the development of agricultural communities, women's work revolved more around the home. They prepared food, made clothing, and cared for children, while also helping to plow fields, harvest crops, and tend animals. As cities developed, some women sold or traded goods in the marketplace.

Some major changes are now occurring in industrial nations, including the steadily increasing proportion of women in the labor force; decreasing family responsibilities (due to both smaller family size and technological innovation in the home); higher levels of education for women; and more middle- and upper-income women working for pay.

II

Early Women Workers

In Babylonia, about 2000 bc, women were permitted to engage in business and to work as scribes. In most ancient societies, however, upper-class women usually were limited to their homes, and working women were either plebeians or slaves used for unskilled labor. In ancient Greece, women worked outside the home as sellers of goods such as salt, figs, bread, and hemp; seamstresses; wet nurses; laundresses; cobblers; and potters. Despite the strict seclusion of women in Asia, their work patterns were similar to those of women in Greece. In India, working women crushed stones used to make roads and worked long hours weaving cloth.

A

Medieval Europe

Artisans working in their own homes not infrequently used the labor of their families. This custom was so prevalent during the Middle Ages that woodcarving guilds (see see Guild) of the period, including some that otherwise excluded women, often admitted the widows of guild members, providing they met professional requirements. Some early guilds barred women from membership; others accepted them on a limited basis. By the 14th century, in England and France, women were frequently accepted equally with men as tailors, barbers, carpenters, and saddlers and spurriers. Dressmaking and lace-making guilds were composed exclusively of women.

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Gradually, the guilds were replaced by the putting-out system, whereby tools and materials were distributed to workers by merchants; the workers then produced articles on a piecework basis in their homes. Some of these workers were women, who were paid directly for their labor, while men with families were commonly assisted by their wives and children.

B

The Industrial Revolution

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, as the Industrial Revolution developed, the putting-out system slowly declined. Goods that had been produced by hand in the home were manufactured by machine in factories (see Factory System). Women competed more with men for some jobs, but were concentrated primarily in textile mills and clothing factories.

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