gender Flashcards
1
Q
illegitimate fertility
A
- 1700 illegitimacy rate (France and England) 2%, 1850 it was 10%.
- some illegitimate children born into stable family units but in general there was a lower change of survival.
- in NW Europe, there was a rise in the number of children born outside of wedlock. Bastardy rates in England went from 6-20% suggesting higher engagement in pre-marital sex.
2
Q
how did cultural attitudes change fertility rates?
A
- Margaret Darrow suggest love and cultural factors were significant. Change in the reason why people asked Bishop if they could marry. No longer because their parents want them to but because they are in love. This had led to elopement. In England, Lords Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753 required the involvement of an Anglican clergyman to legitimate the union of a couple and the transferral of property and this suggests that more people were not following proper procedures.
- More people choosing to marry (Western Europe c. 1900 about 13% men, 16% women (45-49) never married), in 1800 about 25%). If people are choosing to marry younger, they were likely to have children younger and this would lead to a longer period where they were fertile.
3
Q
how did industrialisation change fertility rates?
A
- It led to the proliferation of cities and therefore a process of urbanisation. The increase in illegitimate birth had been linked to a sexual revolution as the gradual permeation of market values encouraged illicit sexual encounters.
- The disruptive effect of economic change on marriage expectations when pregnancy before marriage was common was also significant. It may have been caused by a lifting of social checks. Industrialisation disrupted the traditional family network and therefore nuclear rather than extended family becoming more common living situation.
- There were improvements to agricultural techniques and therefore more bountiful harvests. There was a larger number of prenuptial pregnancies after mid-century. at the end of the 18th century, 35% of brides were pregnant. This is nutrition sensitive. Better nutrition has been shown to lead to shorter periods of subfecundity and therefore a larger number of pregnancies even if the same amount of sex is being had.
4
Q
how did the state contribute to rising fertility rates?
A
- The state could influence fertility rates considerably. During periods of conscription – worrying to state to have falling fertility rates and therefore they sponsored pro-natalist welfare policies and a greater focus on welfare support for women.
- However, during this period the state also invested into education and this improved human capital. This made it less economically advantageous to have children as they couldn’t be sent to work and therefore fertility rates declined. It also meant that lots of women could not stay at home and look after children.
5
Q
how did changing gender roles contribute to rising fertility rates?
A
- More women were getting an education and going to work.
- Industrialisation not only started to create a larger number of manufacturing jobs and the proliferation of female sweatshops.
- By 1900, women aged 16-25 formed 17.6% of St Petersburg’s workforce. The overall percentage of working women in France rose to 28.9%. With more women working they had more of a public presence and therefore spent less time in the home. This alleviated them of domestic stereotypes and meant that the expectation to have children declined
- An increase in female labour strained marital relations. The rate of divorce increased tenfold and this disrupted social relations.
- Florence nightingale and the expansion of the nursing profession shows that women were starting to prioritise their career. Nightingale for example, despite several marriage proposals, including from Henry Nicholson, never married and therefore never had kids.
6
Q
what were the traditional means of limiting family size?
A
- Sexual abstention
- Long periods of lactation
- Abortion (illegal)
- Infantacide (illegal) – in Brittany 1 in 1000 live births being killed (from court statistics so actually more, courts very reluctant to convict women of this)
- Child abandonment
7
Q
suggested reasons for fertility decline in Britain and Germany
A
- Industrialisation means that women were working and cannot stay home to look after the kids.
- Education improvements meant children were no longer as economically advantageous. It is better to invest in a smaller number going to school.
- More likely to survive to adulthood, don’t need as many to ensure you have someone to look after you
- Female emancipation
- Decline in church authority
8
Q
life for upper class women
A
- Home for some elite often did involve politics. Women were not allowed in library, billiards room etc. ‘female’ rooms
- Were expected to be involved in charity, fitted with naturally kind female nature. Charity in clear areas and visiting hospitals, prisons, poor houses, asylums, founding crèches and nurseries
- Even if they were participating in public sphere their role was constrained by their gender
9
Q
life for middle class women
A
- Middle class women in particular tied to the home – defining feature of their class was not having to be involved in work. this led to an increasingly separate public and private sphere
- Married women of middle class were often under patronage of upper-class ladies so involved in charitable work
10
Q
life for working class women
A
- Working class women predominantly in domestic service and a few in factory factories - normally single
- Many had to give up their job once married eg. nurses
- Factory production destroyed dynamic of men + women working alongside each other for mutual benefit, damaging for family
- In Russia migration of young men to factory towns, left wife in charge of family, unnatural control of rural households by women – usurped traditional patriarchal structure
11
Q
work at the start of the century
A
-at the start of the century, there was a sexual division of labour, partly as a result of guilds (organisations which protected the rights of workers involved and made a clear distinction between artisanal and more general occupations.
-It equated women with unskilled work, forcing them into a secondary labour market which was poorly paid, irregular and offering few security buffers.
-garment trades started to distinguish workers by location as opposed to just task as by encouraging women to work from home, labour costs could be cut by up to fifty per cent. For example, in Russia, it was not uncommon for women to produce medicine and textiles within their home
.
12
Q
how did industrialisation impact employment
A
- Proliferation of female sweatshops. By 1900, women aged 16-25 formed 17.6% of St Petersburg’s workforce.
- The overall percentage of working women in France rose to 28.9%.
- Most clerical posts were reserved for unmarried women as they had more tenuous links to their village and could more easily move to areas with labour shortages. They were less likely to fall pregnant and were more attractive to employers.
- In Catholic countries unmarried women went into religious congregations, devoted to education and nursing (135,000 nuns in France 1868)
- improvements to education meant that women could access more skilled employment.bFlorence Nightingale founded the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St Thomas Hospital in London in 1860. She played an important role during the Crimean War.
13
Q
employment in less industrialised countries like Iceland
A
- Most women were wives of farm laborers. The ideal housewife was expected to supervise indoor work. They were not supposed to read much for pleasure. The emphasis on women seeking and receiving the same education as men is lacking in Iceland. No formal education was available until 1874.
- Gender roles were more interchangeable in the first place. When men moved during certain periods of the year (e.g. to fishing stations further south as was customary during the winter), women assumed dominant roles on the farm. The Bourgeoisie conception of separate spheres of life was not akin to rural life.
14
Q
eduction before the turn of the century
A
- Some women had been educated before the turn of the 19th century. The Reformation highlighted the importance of being able to read scripture.
- it was a privilege reserved for daughters of aristocrats, but the curriculum was restricted to stereotypical female skills, such as sewing.
15
Q
education in Northern Europe linked to religious change
A
- In France, following the closure of many convent in 1792, many institutions started to be replaced by boarding schools – there was a growing rhetoric that women needed to be wives and mothers not nuns.
- the infamous Maison Royale de Saint-Cyr had 250 pupils and by 1864, some 25% of the middle class were attending lay boarding schools. A similar trend occurred in England as individuals like Mary Edgeworth started to argue that in order for women to fulfil their domestic role and to identify with their husbands’ values, they needed a rational education. - By 1828, 289 schools had been established on the outskirts of London. They were kept small to mimic the home and provide privacy.
- improving but with strong a strong domestic accent.
