Two Pamphlets on Women's Industrial Employment in 1870s France and England

Women's Industrial Employment

Pamphlets

Watherston, Edward J. The Industrial Employment of Women in France Compared with England. London: Spottiswoods and Co., 1878. French Silk Manufactures and the Industrial Employment of Women. London: Dryden Pres - J Davy and Sons, [1879]. Both measure 8.5" x 5.25". 16 and 23 pages, respectively. The 1878 pamphlet "The Industrial Employment of Women in France..." is a comparative analysis of the labor participation rate of women in France and in England. French women were much more integrated into the labor market, this study finds, even despite the fact that England had a disproportionate demographic surplus of women and an even more developed industrial sector. At the conclusion of the pamphlet, Watherston proposes three major steps spur female employment in England, based off the French example, which are the: "1. Establishment of special training schools for certain trades, following a preliminary general education. 2. These training schools... must be made self-supporting within a short time... All pupils must pay a moderate fee for being taught. 3. There should be union of the managers of training schools with all manufacturers wishing to employ female labour. The union must aim both to give employment to women, and to advise as to the directions in which it may be sought, and into which it may be extended." Watherston lays blame for the poor labor participation rate of English women at the fact that they are barred from major employment sectors, such as the railways, as well as a private sector which demonstrated no inclination to hire them. He concludes that English women need organization, first and foremost, and should establish a "Society for the Industrial Employment of Women".

The second pamphlet focuses on first the history of the French silk industry and later women's employment within it, noting the unique advances that the French female silk workers enjoyed. Watherston notes that "Other countries, before France, made use of female labour, but the French were the first who employed not only, as we do, the hands, but also the brains of women. The technical education of female workers took place simultaneously with that of the men, and it is to the results of this that not a little of the excellence of the French silk manufactures of the present day is due." Watherston goes on to examine the silk manufacture at Jujurieux, which took in young women from a rural, underdeveloped region and lodged, fed, and rigorously trained them in silk production. In both of these pamphlets, he highlights and endorses enterprises that transform women into workers, often through a process that includes living and training amongst fellow apprentices for years at a time. There is a prevailing belief that women must be engineered into working class subjects through this total immersion, but with a confidence that they are technically and intellectually skilled enough should they be properly acclimated. Some minor chipping to left edge, 3/4 in. tear on top edge of one pamphlet, overall in very good condition.

Item #18984

Price: $325.00