1894 Report on Women's Labor Statistics

Feminism

First Edition

[Women's Employment][Labor][Feminism] Collet, Clara Elizabeth. Report by Miss Collet on the Statistics of Employment of Women and Girls. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1894. First edition. 153 pages. Rebound with blue cardstock wrappers with blue cloth spine. A foundational document in the history of women’s labor rights in the United Kingdom, this government-commissioned report by feminist economist and civil servant Clara Collet presents a rigorously detailed statistical study of female employment across various industries and regions in late 19th-century Britain. The report was produced under the auspices of the Board of Trade’s Labour Department and presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Queen Victoria. Collet's work documents an early official recognition of gender disparities in wages, labor conditions, and occupational distribution.

Clara Collet was a pioneering advocate for working-class women. In this report she compiles extensive census and wage data comparing the years 1881 and 1891, with particular focus on textile and manufacturing sectors, including cotton, wool, and worsted mills. The report also explores regional patterns in employment, rates of marriage and widowhood, and the social consequences of low female wages. Appendices provide granular data segmented by occupation and geography, highlighting, for instance, employment patterns among married women and child laborers. Of note is Collet’s contextual analysis of women’s roles in both domestic and industrial economies, and her subtle but pointed criticism of systemic inequalities in pay and opportunity. Her work prefigures later feminist labor studies by over half a century and has been cited by scholars as foundational to the evolution of state labor policy in Britain. Pages toned with scattered foxing, binding stable and professionally renewed; textblock complete. Overall good to very good condition. A landmark primary source in the history of women's labor advocacy and feminist economics, and a rare survival in its first edition.

Item #22131

Price: $225.00