When Prejudices Persist

Where are the women?

Before the industrial revolutions of the 19^th century, although women from the bourgeoisie did not work, it was considered normal for women from the lower classes. Until the end of the 18^th century, historical sources in fact don’t distinguish between men and women at work, however it would be wrong to assume this meant there was equality. Women were largely dominated by the male species and their legal rights were equivalent to those of minors.

Until the end of the 20^th century, a woman’s matrimonial role was well-recognised. Here, the woman described as a wet nurse is in fact a young mother sitting amidst her family who are taking a break from their daily tasks. Before the French Revolution, wet nursing as a profession was very common. Women from rural areas would find jobs after they had given birth nursing the children of wealthier families.

Whether in the fields or along the coastline, spaces and tasks were divided up between the sexes. Female tasks often required a woman’s agility, but also their submission, both of these being assumed female qualities confining them to unqualified jobs. The patriarchal model restricted women to carrying out farming and domestic tasks within the family, or elsewhere as a household employee, or even as a corvée supervisor. During the pre-industrial era, work was mainly carried out at home, although women in the textiles industry began to working in the manufacturing plants in Nantes, for example the spinning mills and indiennes print workshops from the 1760s.

During the 19th century, factory work was just as common among women as it was among men, because the introduction of machinery in many industries meant employers could employ more and more women to carry out repetitive tasks which were considered basic and unqualified. Around 1850, women made up roughly 30% of the industrial workforce in France, and during the second half of the 19^th century, this percentage continued to rise. These female workers were mainly young women still living at home, single mothers and widows. In Brittany, these women worked in the food processing, tobacco and paper industries, and many worked in the textile and clothing industries. Dressmaking was still most-often home-based and indeed, Charles Benoist's work Les ouvrières de l’aiguille (Needleworkers) defined the public image of a female worker.

Poverty figures in Brittany in the mid-19th century reveal that 60% of female farmers, 9% of female textile workers, 11% of housemaids and 10% of washerwomen lived below the poverty line. Their small salaries were not enough to live on, but their employed status was relative protection against destitution.

On the nature of women

The idea of distinguishing between natural female and male qualities – considered innate – became more common in the 19^th century as a way of justifying the gender division between roles. While professions that were considered masculine were defined by physical strength and high intellectual and decision-making capacities, female professions required dexterity, or maternal and caring qualities. Female labour in factories and warehouses was therefore mostly frowned upon. Both religious and bourgeois discourse encouraged women to take up roles in domestic or educational settings. As a consequence, female factory workers were ill-considered compared to female farm labourers, whose profession was more closely in line with domestic chores. Female factory workers were viewed as corrupt within the archetypal family context. Furthermore, it was widely understood that if a married woman went out to work, it was because her husband could not provide for her. This was shaming for the couple. Finally, many doctors believed that work was harmful during pregnancy and while breastfeeding children.

Mechanisation, machines and the general streamlining of work processes increased the hardships associated with work: repetitive tasks, low hygiene standards, uncleanliness, insalubrious work environments…

New laws

From the end of the 19^th century, there was some transgression within the gender hierarchy, mainly thanks to the fact that women’s rights were gradually starting to be recognised. But although professional equality in the workplace was advancing, equal pay was a long way off from reality. In the 1900s a husband could still legally stop his wife from working, but a law passed in 1907 gave her full control of her salary. However, a woman’s income was still perceived as supplementary to a man’s, and more or less a temporary affair. Doctors and birthing experts helped bring about the first social security laws, which mainly affected women working in insalubrious factory conditions. Another law passed in 1874 banned young women under the age of 21 from working at night and a further law passed in 1892 widened the ban to include all women, irrespective of their age or the level of danger associated with their work. Maternity leave was introduced in 1909. However, not all women were concerned by the new legislation, in particular farmers’ wives who would have to wait until the start of the 21^st century for any professional recognition.

The gender of professions

The rise of training programmes and professional diplomas increased the gender split at the start of the 20^th century. The introduction of diplomas consolidated the professional gender divide. While accountants and chief clerks were men, women occupied subordinate roles including secretarial positions. Furthermore lessons in home economics, in which women were taught to cook, iron, keep house and sew were attended by future mothers and housekeepers, but were also part of other female professional training courses in the secondary (textile industry) and tertiary (care) work sectors.

Although women gradually started to be represented in every economic sector, they were still not employed for qualified roles, as independent professionals or for roles of responsibility. They were employed as bank cashiers, saleswomen, telegraph operators, machine operators, teachers or nurses. Of those women not from homes where the standard of living was extremely low, some married and stopped working, especially when the first child came along. But this situation evolved according to circumstances (war, child employment restrictions…), and mothers began to return to the factories. During the First World War, whilst the men were fighting at the Front women took over many of their jobs at home, especially in the armament industry and the postal service. Female teachers also began to teach boys.

During the Ancien Régime, women worked as relay postmistresses for mail coaches. In the 19^th century, they were employed as office managers. During the Third Republic, women’s roles within the postal service were made official. Female staff numbers began to grow, especially in the telegraph operating department.

The mass arrival of female workers within French factories also led to new legislation: the legal working age limit was decreased to 16. In July 1916, pregnant women were banned from working night shifts and a memorandum was published encouraging the widespread establishment of breastfeeding areas for businesses with more than 100 women over the age of 15 within their employment. In September 1917, two breastfeeding rooms were set up at the Pont-de-Buis powder mill and a nursery was set up in one of the outbuildings for children between the ages of 3 and 6.

During the First World War, the Pont-de-Buis powder mill ran day and night, requiring a huge labour force. In 1914 the factory employed 993 workers, but by the end of the war that number had increased to 5,600, including 3,000 female workers!

Until the 1960s, jobs for working class women were irregular, unqualified and paid around half as well as jobs for men. Employers were only too happy to take advantage of this cheaper workforce. More qualified professions and managerial roles occupied by men were gradually opened up to women, but only from the second half of the 20^th century.

Let's talk about equality

In the 1950s, a general decrease in farming activity, which included a mass exodus from rural areas, meant the number of women working in the primary sector gradually decreased. Working in the city became synonymous with freedom and emancipation. In contrast, working in the countryside was considered less rewarding and badly paid. As the 1960s dawned, the female employment market exploded. The women concerned were mostly young, had seen their mothers go out to work and had obtained either their brevet or professional brevet (O-Level and apprenticeship equivalents). Working conditions continued to evolve and women could find work in the industrial sector as well as in administrative roles in the private, state and tertiary sectors. In the textiles, electronics and food processing industries, sectors in which assembly line work and robotics were often the norm, women were recruited on a large scale. They also entered male-dominated areas such as the car, mechanical, chemical and rubber industries. During the 1960s in Brittany, there was an increased female presence in the industrial sector. One of the major issues with these jobs, however, was that they rarely offered any form of social advancement. At best, a female worker might eventually become a foreman. Women could more easily obtain lasting professional status in professions such a nursing, teaching, as well as in secretarial roles.

France’s 1946 Constitution guaranteed women the same rights as men in all areas, but the 1973 oil crisis led to many inequalities and certain advances in labour laws took a step backwards. In the 1980s more women worked by choice, but with a preference for the tertiary and administrative sectors. The decision to prioritise one’s work over family life, and especially motherhood, was still very rare. Those who made that choice often faced negative criticism and a lack of understanding.

In 2000, the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights enforced the principal of gender equality in all industries, but this did not stretch to equal pay (women with the same competencies are often paid less than men), nor did it make a difference to the way particular professions were represented, as illustrated in the French language by the genders of the names of professions. The Académie française may have included new entries for feminine neologisms in 1932 – like factrice (postlady) and aviatrice (female piot) for example – but it insisted these changes not become systematic, rejecting words such professeure, recteure or sapeuse pompier (female teacher, female rector, female fire fighter) in 2014.

This article was originally published on the Musée de Bretagne’s blog, Musée dévoilé du Musée de Bretagne in July 2024.

Translation: Tilly O’Neill