Women & Industrialization (was Re: capitalist patriarchy)

[Michael Hoover]

> Feminist contributions to labor history tell us that the first wage 
> laborers at the beginning of the "industrial revolution" in the most 
> crucial industry were often predominantly female, not male, textile 
> workers.  (Even mining was not the all male or predominantly male 
> industry either.)  
> Yoshie

Marx, in _Capital_, vol. 1, cites speech by Lord Ashley during 1844
Ten Hours' Factory Bill:
"Mr. E., a manufacturer, informs me that he employed females exclusively
at his power looms...and gives a decided preference to maried females,
especially those who have families at home dependent on them for support;
they are attentive and docile, more so than unmarried females, and are
compelled to use their utmost exertions to procure the necessaries of
life.  (Int'l. Pub., 1967, p. 402, fn2)

KM, in same volume, notes that English women were "no longer employed
undergound" after 1842.  They continued, however, to do various work
on the surface. (p. 499)      Michael Hoover