The rise and decline of the male breadwinner family? An overview of the debate

International Review of Social History

Volumn 42, Issue 5, 1997, Pages 1-23

  Janssens, Angélique ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0031455091     PISSN: 00208590     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0020859000114774     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. See Sonya Rose, "Gender and Labor History. The Nineteenth-Century Legacy", in Marcel van der Linden (ed.), The End of Labour History?, International Review of Social History, Supplement 1 (1993), pp. 145-162.
2. Colin Creighton, "The Rise of the Male Breadwinner Family: A Reappraisal", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 38, 2 (1996), pp. 310-337.
3. Ibid.
4. Wally Seccombe, "Patriarchy Stabilized: The Construction of the Male Breadwinner Wage Norm in Nineteenth-Century Britain", Social History, 11 (1986), pp. 53-76.
5. Alice Clark, Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1982; 1st ed. 1919). Others are: A. Oakley, Housewife (Harmondsworth, 1976); S. Lewenhak, Women and Work (Glasgow, 1980). For surveys of the debate see for instance: Olwen Hufton, "Women in History: Early Modern Europe", Past and Present, 101 (1983), pp. 124-141, or Harriet Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work. A Sociological History of the Sexual Division of Labour in Employment (Oxford, 1989), pp. 33-42.
6. Alice Clark, Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1982; 1st ed. 1919). Others are: A. Oakley, Housewife (Harmondsworth, 1976); S. Lewenhak, Women and Work (Glasgow, 1980). For surveys of the debate see for instance: Olwen Hufton, "Women in History: Early Modern Europe", Past and Present, 101 (1983), pp. 124-141, or Harriet Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work. A Sociological History of the Sexual Division of Labour in Employment (Oxford, 1989), pp. 33-42.
7. Alice Clark, Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1982; 1st ed. 1919). Others are: A. Oakley, Housewife (Harmondsworth, 1976); S. Lewenhak, Women and Work (Glasgow, 1980). For surveys of the debate see for instance: Olwen Hufton, "Women in History: Early Modern Europe", Past and Present, 101 (1983), pp. 124-141, or Harriet Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work. A Sociological History of the Sexual Division of Labour in Employment (Oxford, 1989), pp. 33-42.
8. Alice Clark, Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1982; 1st ed. 1919). Others are: A. Oakley, Housewife (Harmondsworth, 1976); S. Lewenhak, Women and Work (Glasgow, 1980). For surveys of the debate see for instance: Olwen Hufton, "Women in History: Early Modern Europe", Past and Present, 101 (1983), pp. 124-141, or Harriet Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work. A Sociological History of the Sexual Division of Labour in Employment (Oxford, 1989), pp. 33-42.
9. Alice Clark, Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1982; 1st ed. 1919). Others are: A. Oakley, Housewife (Harmondsworth, 1976); S. Lewenhak, Women and Work (Glasgow, 1980). For surveys of the debate see for instance: Olwen Hufton, "Women in History: Early Modern Europe", Past and Present, 101 (1983), pp. 124-141, or Harriet Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work. A Sociological History of the Sexual Division of Labour in Employment (Oxford, 1989), pp. 33-42.
10. Esther Boserup, Women's Role in Economic Development (New York, 1970).
11. See Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work, p. 37; K.D.M. Snell, Annals of the Labouring Poor (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 270-319.
12. See Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work, p. 37; K.D.M. Snell, Annals of the Labouring Poor (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 270-319.
13. Elizabeth Sanderson, Women and Work in Eighteenth-Century Edinburgh (London and New York, 1996).
14. Jenneke Quast, "Vrouwenarbeid omstreeks 1500 in enkele Nederlandse steden", in Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis, vol. 1 (Nijmegen, 1980), pp. 46-64.
15. Els Kloek, Wie hij zij, man of wijf. Vrouwengeschiedenis en de vroegmoderne tijd (Hilversum, 1990), pp. 48-77.
16. Hettie Pott-Buter, Facts and Fairy Tales about Female Labor, Family and Fertility (Amsterdam, 1993). See in particular pp. 319-321.
17. E. Shorter, "Women's Work: What Difference did Capitalism Make?", Theory and Society, 3, 4 (1976), pp. 513-529; M. Segalen, Love and Power in the Peasant Family (Oxford, 1983); Gay L. Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay. Rural Industry and the Sexual Division of Labor in a French Village, 1750-1850 (Cambridge, 1986).
18. E. Shorter, "Women's Work: What Difference did Capitalism Make?", Theory and Society, 3, 4 (1976), pp. 513-529; M. Segalen, Love and Power in the Peasant Family (Oxford, 1983); Gay L. Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay. Rural Industry and the Sexual Division of Labor in a French Village, 1750-1850 (Cambridge, 1986).
19. E. Shorter, "Women's Work: What Difference did Capitalism Make?", Theory and Society, 3, 4 (1976), pp. 513-529; M. Segalen, Love and Power in the Peasant Family (Oxford, 1983); Gay L. Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay. Rural Industry and the Sexual Division of Labor in a French Village, 1750-1850 (Cambridge, 1986).
20. See Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work, pp. 38-39.
21. In another paper by Sara Horrell, written together with Deborah Oxley, on the household budgets of British industrial workers around 1890, it becomes clear that even amongst the better-paid workers the family could not survive without their children's labour: see "Breadwinning, Poverty and Resource Allocation in Late Nineteenth-Century Britain", unpublished paper for session B17 of the forthcoming Twelfth International Economic History Congress, to be held in Seville in 1998.
22. Patricia Van den Eeckhout, "Family Income of Ghent Working-Class Families ca. 1900", Journal of Family History, 18, 2 (1993), pp. 87-110.
23. Pilar Pérez-Fuentes, Vivir y morir en las minas. Estrategias familiares y relaciones de género en la primera industrialización vizcaína: 1877-1913 (Bilbao, 1993). See in particular pp. 274-275.
24. Luisa Muñoz, "The Family as a Work Group. Technological and Workplace Changes in Occupation in the Galician Fish-Canning Industry, an Empirical Case in Bueu, 1870-1930", paper presented at the Third Workshop on Family Economies and Strategies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, March 1997.
25. Wally Seccombe, Weathering the Storm. Working-Class Families from the Industrial Revolution to the Fertility Decline (London and New York, 1993). See in particular pp. 202-209.
26. Helen I. Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner. Women and Industrialization in the Caribbean (Boulder, CO, 1995), pp. 47-52.
27. See Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 50.
28. Andrew Collver and Eleanor Langlois, "The Female Labor Force in Metropolitan Areas: An International Comparison", Economic Development and Cultural Change, 10, 4 (July 1962), pp. 367-385.
29. See ibid., p. 375. A note of caution seems appropriate here. The official statistics obviously do not cover all the economic activities that poor women may undertake in the home, varying from domestic production to self-provisioning activities.
30. Some parts of the following account are based on the excellent review article by Creighton, "The Rise of the Male Breadwinner Family".
31. Additional supply-side variables for female labour force participation are numbers and ages of children present in the household. Whereas in more recent times the presence of very young children has had negative effects on labour force participation by married women, this effect is not generally found in more historic populations. See the article by Humphries and Horrell in this volume, or T.J. Hatton and R.E. Bailey, "Female Labour Force Participation in Interwar Britain", Oxford Economic Papers, 40 (1988), pp. 695-718.
32. See International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 8 (1968), pp. 478-481, entry: "Labour force: participation, women".
33. See International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 8 (1968), pp. 478-481, entry: "Labour force: participation, women".
34. Janneke Plantenga, Een afwijkend patroon. Honderd jaar vrouwenarbeid in Nederland en (West-)Duitsland (Amsterdam, 1993). See p. 189.
35. Pott-Buter, Facts and Fairy Tales, see in particular pp. 319-321.
36. See Hatton and Bailey, "Female Labour Force Participation in Interwar Britain", pp. 695-718.
37. Historical evidence shows that working wives were not necessarily married to the poorest workers. Two examples, both relating to industrial textile towns, Preston in England and Enschede in the Netherlands, suggest that the organization of the local labour market based on informal labour recruitment systems may help explain the labour force participation of these wives. See M. Savage, The Dynamics of Working-Class Politics: The Labour Movement in Preston, 1880-1940 (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 74-79; W.H. Posthumus-Van der Goot, Onderzoek naar den arbeid der gehuwde vrouw in Nederland (Leiden, 1938), pp. 21-22.
38. Historical evidence shows that working wives were not necessarily married to the poorest workers. Two examples, both relating to industrial textile towns, Preston in England and Enschede in the Netherlands, suggest that the organization of the local labour market based on informal labour recruitment systems may help explain the labour force participation of these wives. See M. Savage, The Dynamics of Working-Class Politics: The Labour Movement in Preston, 1880-1940 (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 74-79; W.H. Posthumus-Van der Goot, Onderzoek naar den arbeid der gehuwde vrouw in Nederland (Leiden, 1938), pp. 21-22.
39. Dual systems theory continues to inform research in the field of women's subordination in the home, at work and at the level of the state. See, for instance, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, pp. 37-41.
40. M. Barrett, Women's Oppression Today: Problems in Marxist Feminist Analysis (London, 1980), p. 211.
41. See, for instance, H. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex", in Z.R. Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York, 1979); idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", in L. Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution: The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (London, 1981); S. Walby, Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge, 1986); idem, Theorizing Patriarchy (Oxford, 1990). Other authors also recognize the dynamic dimension of the patriarchal system, which may make it differ historically or cross-culturally. See, for example, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 38.
42. See, for instance, H. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex", in Z.R. Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York, 1979); idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", in L. Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution: The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (London, 1981); S. Walby, Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge, 1986); idem, Theorizing Patriarchy (Oxford, 1990). Other authors also recognize the dynamic dimension of the patriarchal system, which may make it differ historically or cross-culturally. See, for example, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 38.
43. See, for instance, H. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex", in Z.R. Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York, 1979); idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", in L. Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution: The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (London, 1981); S. Walby, Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge, 1986); idem, Theorizing Patriarchy (Oxford, 1990). Other authors also recognize the dynamic dimension of the patriarchal system, which may make it differ historically or cross-culturally. See, for example, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 38.
44. See, for instance, H. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex", in Z.R. Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York, 1979); idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", in L. Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution: The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (London, 1981); S. Walby, Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge, 1986); idem, Theorizing Patriarchy (Oxford, 1990). Other authors also recognize the dynamic dimension of the patriarchal system, which may make it differ historically or cross-culturally. See, for example, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 38.
45. See, for instance, H. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex", in Z.R. Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York, 1979); idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", in L. Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution: The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism (London, 1981); S. Walby, Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge, 1986); idem, Theorizing Patriarchy (Oxford, 1990). Other authors also recognize the dynamic dimension of the patriarchal system, which may make it differ historically or cross-culturally. See, for example, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, p. 38.
46. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex"; idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism"; Walby, Patriarchy at Work; idem, Theorizing Patriarchy.
47. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex"; idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism"; Walby, Patriarchy at Work; idem, Theorizing Patriarchy.
48. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex"; idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism"; Walby, Patriarchy at Work; idem, Theorizing Patriarchy.
49. Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy and Job Segregation by Sex"; idem, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism"; Walby, Patriarchy at Work; idem, Theorizing Patriarchy.
50. These claims are difficult to substantiate. Protective legislation did not always lead to falling participation rates for women; and countries with different legislative measures had similar gender divisions of labour. But judgements differ. See, for instance, C. Goldin, Understanding the Gender Gap. An Economic History of American Women (Oxford, 1990), p. 198; P. Hudson and W. Lee, "Women's Work and the Family Economy in Historical Perspective", in P. Hudson and W. Lee (eds), Women's Work and the Family Economy in Historical Perspective (Manchester, 1990).
51. These claims are difficult to substantiate. Protective legislation did not always lead to falling participation rates for women; and countries with different legislative measures had similar gender divisions of labour. But judgements differ. See, for instance, C. Goldin, Understanding the Gender Gap. An Economic History of American Women (Oxford, 1990), p. 198; P. Hudson and W. Lee, "Women's Work and the Family Economy in Historical Perspective", in P. Hudson and W. Lee (eds), Women's Work and the Family Economy in Historical Perspective (Manchester, 1990).
52. See Sonya O. Rose, "Gender at Work: Sex, Class and Industrial Capitalism", History Workshop, 21 (Spring 1986), pp. 113-131; idem, "Gender Segregation in the Transition to the Factory: The English Hosiery Industry, 1850-1910", Feminist Studies, 13, 1 (1987), pp. 163-184; idem, "Gender Antagonism and Class Conflict: Exclusionary Strategies of Male Trade Unionists in Nineteenth-Century Britain", Social History, 13, 2 (1988), pp. 191-208; idem, Limited Livelihoods. Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England (London, 1992).
53. See Sonya O. Rose, "Gender at Work: Sex, Class and Industrial Capitalism", History Workshop, 21 (Spring 1986), pp. 113-131; idem, "Gender Segregation in the Transition to the Factory: The English Hosiery Industry, 1850-1910", Feminist Studies, 13, 1 (1987), pp. 163-184; idem, "Gender Antagonism and Class Conflict: Exclusionary Strategies of Male Trade Unionists in Nineteenth-Century Britain", Social History, 13, 2 (1988), pp. 191-208; idem, Limited Livelihoods. Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England (London, 1992).
54. See Sonya O. Rose, "Gender at Work: Sex, Class and Industrial Capitalism", History Workshop, 21 (Spring 1986), pp. 113-131; idem, "Gender Segregation in the Transition to the Factory: The English Hosiery Industry, 1850-1910", Feminist Studies, 13, 1 (1987), pp. 163-184; idem, "Gender Antagonism and Class Conflict: Exclusionary Strategies of Male Trade Unionists in Nineteenth-Century Britain", Social History, 13, 2 (1988), pp. 191-208; idem, Limited Livelihoods. Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England (London, 1992).
55. See Sonya O. Rose, "Gender at Work: Sex, Class and Industrial Capitalism", History Workshop, 21 (Spring 1986), pp. 113-131; idem, "Gender Segregation in the Transition to the Factory: The English Hosiery Industry, 1850-1910", Feminist Studies, 13, 1 (1987), pp. 163-184; idem, "Gender Antagonism and Class Conflict: Exclusionary Strategies of Male Trade Unionists in Nineteenth-Century Britain", Social History, 13, 2 (1988), pp. 191-208; idem, Limited Livelihoods. Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England (London, 1992).
56. Seccombe, Weathering the Storm, pp. 71-80.
57. Ibid., p. 79.
58. Ibid., p. 74.
59. Ibid., p. 79.
60. Ibid., pp. 82-83. In a forthcoming article on Spain, however, Enriqueta Camps has shown that in the Catalan textile industry the second Industrial Revolution actually led to an increase in married women's participation in paid labour, as a substitute for children's work. A reduction in skill qualifications and declining fertility rates together with compulsory schooling for children and a relative improvement of female wages are considered to be key factors. See Enriqueta Camps, "Transitions in Women's and Children's Work Patterns. Implications for the Study of the Family Income and the Household Structure, a Case Study from the Catalan Textile Sector (1850-1925)", The History of the Family. An International Quarterly (forthcoming, 1997).
61. Ibid., pp. 82-83. In a forthcoming article on Spain, however, Enriqueta Camps has shown that in the Catalan textile industry the second Industrial Revolution actually led to an increase in married women's participation in paid labour, as a substitute for children's work. A reduction in skill qualifications and declining fertility rates together with compulsory schooling for children and a relative improvement of female wages are considered to be key factors. See Enriqueta Camps, "Transitions in Women's and Children's Work Patterns. Implications for the Study of the Family Income and the Household Structure, a Case Study from the Catalan Textile Sector (1850-1925)", The History of the Family. An International Quarterly (forthcoming, 1997).
62. Seccombe, Weathering the Storm, p. 114.
63. Creighton, "The Rise of the Male Breadwinner Family", p. 322.
64. This concept is derived from Amartya Sen (Resources, Values and Development (Oxford, 1984), pp. 374-376) and denotes a family bargaining model in which all members cooperate to achieve certain outcomes beneficial to all compared with non-cooperation, whilst all parties at the same time have conflicting interests in the choice of effective cooperative outcomes.
65. Seccombe, "Patriarchy Stabilized".
66. J. Humphries, "Class Struggle and the Persistence of the Working-Class Family", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1, 3 (1977), pp. 241-258.
67. The argument that the male breadwinner family served the interests of the working-class family as a whole may also be found in Brenner and Ramas. However, their perspective is different. Brenner and Ramas argue that the gendered division of labour within the working-class family arose out of the conflicting demands between childcare and work outside the home under the conditions of capitalist production. Families opted for the male breadwinner system in order to ensure their family's biological survival. See J. Brenner and M. Ramas, "Rethinking Women's Oppression", New Left Review, 144 (1984), pp. 33-71.
68. Judy Lown, "Not so Much a Factory, More a Form of Patriarchy: Gender and Class during Industrialisation", in Eva Gamamikow et al., Gender, Class and Work (London, 1983), pp. 11-27; Rose, Limited Livelihoods.
69. Judy Lown, "Not so Much a Factory, More a Form of Patriarchy: Gender and Class during Industrialisation", in Eva Gamamikow et al., Gender, Class and Work (London, 1983), pp. 11-27; Rose, Limited Livelihoods.
70. H. Benenson, "The 'Family Wage' and Working Women's Consciousness in Britain, 1880-1914", Politics and Society, 19, 1 (1991), pp. 71-108.
71. Compare for a similar argument on Central and Latin America, Safa, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner, pp. 46-58.
72. See Creighton, "The Rise of the Male Breadwinner Family", p. 329.
73. Don Kalb, "Expanding Class: Power and Everyday Politics in Industrial Communities, North Brabant Illustrations, ca. 1850-1950" (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Utrecht, 1995), p. 13.
74. Bradley, Men's Work, Women's Work, pp. 166-171.
75. Annemieke van Drenth, De zorg om het Philipsmeisje. Fabrieksmeisjes in de elektrotechnische industrie in Eindhoven (1900-1960) (Zutphen, 1991), p. 89.
76. It is tempting to associate this case of female breadwinners with manual production, which allows for greater flexibility in work schedules than mechanized production. That female breadwinning and a fully mechanized production system are not mutually exclusive is demonstrated, however, by Joyce Parr's study of two Ontario towns in the first half of the twentieth century. In Paris, one of these two towns, female breadwinning throughout the family life cycle was made possible in the local textile industry through adaptations by employers, family members, the community and working mothers: see Joyce Parr, The Gender of Breadwinners. Women, Men, and Change in Two Industrial Towns, 1880-1950 (Toronto, 1990).
77. See, for instance, Susan Pederson, Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State, Britain and France, 1914-1945 (Cambridge, 1993); and Diane Sainsbury, Gender, Equality and the Welfare States (Cambridge, 1996).
78. See, for instance, Susan Pederson, Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State, Britain and France, 1914-1945 (Cambridge, 1993); and Diane Sainsbury, Gender, Equality and the Welfare States (Cambridge, 1996).
79. On this debate see, for instance, ibid., pp. 40-44.
80. For a comparable position see Pedersen, Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State. Pedersen argues that the weak French male breadwinner system was supported by employers' policies, which were later incorporated into state policies, providing family benefits for both male and female workers with children. This undercut male workers' claim for a family wage. Pedersen contrasts the French case with the British system, which directed state efforts more towards protecting the integrity and superiority of male wages, thereby institutionalizing relations of dependence within the family.