This session is proposed against the background of an already existing network of economic and social historians who have gathered over the years to discuss new and innovative research on historical labor markets. One strong theme that has emerged focuses on gender and the role of women in the household economy and in the development of industrial labor markets at the end of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Previous meetings have taken place in Utrecht (Netherlands); in Lund, Sweden, and in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Although many agree that the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in history since the agrarian revolution, the focus is mainly on its implications for production and its contribution to economic growth and increasing living standards. Yet it has had many other impacts; in particular on individuals, families and gender relations. This session gather scholars who work in the tradition that combines theory, quantitative skills, contextual awareness, with the investigative skills of a historian, presenting a range of work that may shed new light on old facts and reinterpret how labor markets, work and wages are affected by fundamental economic change. The focus will be set on women’s experiences, systematically contrasted to those of men. The contributions will shed new light on wage differentials and the position of different categories of workers during the industrial era; on gender differentials regarding work and wages in different industries and geographical regions; the development and returns of the career concept and professionalization as well as on the roles of labor market institutions and labor management across industrialized nations.

This session emphasizes the use of novel techniques and data for the study of women in the labor market and changing gender relations, in order to establish true gender gaps and debunk old myths regarding gender in the labor market. New data sources such as detailed household surveys, matched employer-employee data, labor statistical surveys, micro-level censuses and tax records all allow modern issues in labor economics to be addressed in the historical case, advancing our understanding of how women experienced the labor market around the turn of the twentieth century. The period surrounding 1900 was a transitional period in women’s work, with industrial home work starting to decline, a rapidly shifting occupational structure, and in many places a low point in the employment of married women. Examining the labor supply decisions of households, the occupational and industrial choices facing female workers, and the labor market conditions affecting their work and pay at the beginning of the twentieth century is a very important, and yet relatively under-studied, step in explaining the dramatic changes in women’s labor market outcomes later in the century. With historical insights we can better assess gender inequalities today through the lens of the past.

This panel will follow a standard format, with eight papers and one chair/discussants. The papers will be pre-circulated. Each panelist will have between 15-20 minutes for presentation followed by discussion and Q&A after a set of four papers. We have papers on various aspects of how labor markets, work and wages are affected by industrialization with a focus on women’s experiences and implications for changing gender relations. Contributions are made on labor force participation, wage differentials, the position of different categories of workers, the development and returns of the career concept and professionalization, as well as the work-family tradeoff during the industrial era. Papers cover a range of contexts; the US, the UK, and elsewhere across Europe. Each paper will explore one or more issues/inquiries outlined above with an overall objective to develop a multifaceted and comparative perspective on women’s economic roles during industrialization and in the post-industrial era.