<< Yes, and at the other historical part of your discussion, Black women
were doing an enormous amount of unwaged labor, in the field and in the
house, in the early 1800's, adding to the majority women's labor
scenario you describe at that time.
Charles Brown >>
I certainly agree -- in fact almost all the domestic/household labor of women, with the exception of a very, very small upper class, was unpaid drudge work. In urban areas one in three households retained servants, and in rural areas one in eight households retained servants -- a majority female. Prior to the Civil War, and for quite a few years after, black women had a labor force participation rate of 100 percent. Freed black women also had an extremely high lfp, especially since private charities (ergo almost all charitable organizations) generally had racist policies denying all aid to black women. On the other hand, 80% of all european immigrant women came over as indentured servants and the majority of all first generation immigrant women worked (Irish, German, Portugese, Italian, etc.), Further, almost all Asian women were imported strictly as servants. ah well, I could write about this for days, it's one of my favorite topics. maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com