The Old in the New (was cultural politics/"real" politics)

[hoov]

> though the incorporation of women in the labor market is often said to
> be 'new,' at the begenning of industrialization, both in light industries
> such as textile and heavy industries such as mining, female workers were
> not only indispensable but often preferred to male workers.
> Yoshie

Heleieth Saffioti, in _Women in Class Society_, notes that women comprised
30% of the total workforce in French industry in the 1860s...Stephanie
Coontz, in _The Way We Never Were_, states that women comprised only 16%
of the US labor force in the 1870s...she points out, however, that
nineteenth century decline in women's labor force participation was
both a new and a temporary phenomenon...Coontz also indicates that
women engaged in paid work - such as taking in boarders, selling
items made at home, and working in family businesses - that went
unreported...Michael Hoover