Pre 1914, women worked as servants and in factories. In 1914 there were 5.9million women working out of 23.7million. In domestic service, there were 1.5million women working, 900,00 were working in textiles and 500,000 in the sweated trade. Middle class women sometimes worked as lawyers, teachers, teachers or doctors. But this was a very small number and very few middle class married women would be working at all. Upper class women rarely worked either. Upper class women usually did charity work and the few upper class women that did work had better jobs than the lower class women.
The types of work undertaken by women pre 1914 were mainly:
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Domestic service e.g chamber maid, cook, cleaner in a household
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Textiles e.g in factories
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Sweated trade e.g dressmaking, clothing
The main jobs for women were in domestic service. Middle class women usually worked as a governess, chamber maid or the lady’s maid. A lower class woman would get a job such as sculler maid and the best job to have in the domestic service was a housekeeper.
The women worked long hours from as early as 5.00am to 11.30pm and sometimes later if there was a party at the home. They got ½ day off work all week. The domestic service jobs were usually undertaken by ordinary, working class women. The uneducated girls had to be fit to do lots of difficult and physical work. The girls went as young as 12 to work in the domestic trade and if one was pregnant or married, they had to leave the domestic service.
The textile industry was a major employer of women. It was a job for uneducated, working class women. The conditions were difficult. It was smelly, hot, dusty and physically demanding. The women worked long hours for small pay. Even if men and women did the same job, the women got paid less than men.
Many women were employed in the sweated trade. This is the making of clothing and dressmaking. If women worked at home they were paid piece rates (i.e paid for every piece they made) and if they worked at the home of the manufacturer’s, the pay was very low. The conditions in the sweated trade were dreadful.
Women and education/ professions
Due to their lack of education, it was very difficult for women to be promoted above men. Girls were usually less educated than boys because it was not that important to educate girls. Out of the 10% of children who attended school after the age of 12, 1% were girls.
By 1914 there were women working in most of the professions but they still had to face a great deal of opposition by men.
It was not very difficult for women to get jobs but they worked in the worst conditions. Dust, heat smelly working areas and the wage was about 2 thirds of a man’s pay, if not less.
