working life of women seventeenth century - School of Economics ...

4 INTRODUCTORYtragic class of wage earners, who, though comparativelyfew in numbers, already constituted a serious problemin the seventeenth century.In the course of the investigation, comparison isfrequently made with the economic position of medizvalwomen on the one hand, and with women'sposition under modern industrial conditions, on theother. It must be admitted, however, that comparisonswith the middle ages rest chiefly on conjecture.Owing to the greater complexity of a woman's lifeher productive capacity must be classified on differentlines from those which are generally followed indealing with the economic life of men,For the purposes of this essay, the highest, mostintense forms to which women's productive energyis directed have been excluded ; that is to say, thespiritual creaton of the home and the physical creationof the child. Though essentially productive, suchachievements of creative power transcend the limitationsof economics and one instinctvely feelsthat there would be something almost degradingin any attempt to weigh them in the balance withproductions that are bought and sold in the market oreven with professional services. Nevertheless it mustnever be forgotten that the productive energy whichis described in the ensuing chapters was in no sensealternative to the exercise of these higher forms ofcreative power but was employed simultaneously withthem. It may be suspected that the influences ofhome life were stronger in the social life of theseventeenth century than they are in modern England,and certainly the birth-rate was much higher in everyclass of the community except perhaps the very poorest.But, leaving these two forms of creative poweraside, there remains another special factor complicatingwomen's economic position, namely, the extent of herproduction for domestic purposes-as opposed toindustrial and professional purposes. The domesticINTRODUCTORY5category includes all goods and services, either materialor spiritual, which are produced solely for the benefitof the family, while the industrial and professionalare those which are produced either for sale or exchange.In modern life the majority of Englishwomen devotethe greater part of their lives to domestic occupations,while men are freed from domestic occupations ofany sort, being generally engaged in industrial orprofessional pursuits and spending their leisure overpublic services or personal pleasure and amusement.Under modern conditions the ordinary domesticoccupations of Englishwomen consist in tending babiesand young children, either as mothers or servants, inpreparing household meals, and %keeping the houseclean, while laundry work, preserving fruit, and themaking of children's clothesare still often included inthe domestic category. In the seven~enth century itembraced a much wider range of production ; forbrewing, dairy-work, the care of poultry and pigs, theproduction of vegetables and fruit, spinning flax andwool, nursing and doctoring, all formed part of domesticindustry. Therefore the part which women playedin industrial and professional life was in addition to amuch greater prodoctive activity in the domestic spherethan is required of them under modern conditions.On the other hand it may be urged that, if womenwere upon the whole more actively engaged in industrialwork during the seventeenth century than theywere in the first decade of the twentieth century,men were much more occupied with domestic affairsthen than they are now. Men in all classes gave timeand care to the education of their children, and theyoung unmarried men who generally occupied positionsas apprentices and servants were partly employedover domestic work. Therefore, though now it istaken for granted that domestic work will be done bywomen, a considerable proportion of it in former daysfell to the share of men.