The Politics of Work
Gender and Labour in Victoria, 1880–1939

This book focuses on the workplace in Australia to look at how and why the nature of work changed during the period from the late nineteenth century to World War II.

Raelene Frances (Author)

9780521457729, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 November 1993

280 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.5 cm, 0.45 kg

"She ably demonstrates the importance of perceiving uneven developement with regard to gender and labor and of avoiding monocausal explanations of both change and the maintenance of the status quo....Frances's book makes a useful contribution to a more nuanced understanding of women's labor history." Judith Allen, American Historical Review

Australia has a strong tradition of labour historiography, which until recently has been focused on the institutions of the labour movement: trade unions and labour parties. This book shifts the focus back to the workplace and looks at how and why the nature of work changed during the period from the late nineteenth century to World War II. The book focuses on three industries in the state of Victoria: clothing, bootmaking, and printing. Concerned with the complex relationship between economic and technological change, the nature of sexual division in the workforce, and the role of union, employer and state activists, it carefully traces the impact of all of these factors on wage levels for men and women. The treatment of these themes touches on wide historical issues, as we follow the fortunes of Victorian manufacturing, and consider the political strategies of the trade unions of the time and the state's response to them. The study is also an important piece of social history, evoking the nature of work for many Australians of the period.

Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Before the Wages Boards: Introduction
1. 'The advent of machines and women': the clothing industries 1880–1896
2. 'An age of grim adversity': the boot industry 1880–1896
3. Drawing the line: the printing industries 1880–1900
Part II. The Wages Board Era: Introduction
4. 'No more Amazons': the clothing industries, 1897–1919
5. The workers baffled: the boot industry, 1897–1910
6. Educating the girls: the printing industries, 1901–1925
Part III. The Era of Federal Wage Fixing: Introduction
7. Diplomacy and guerilla warfare: the clothing industries, 1919–1939
8. The Cinderella of the skilled trades: the boot industry, 1911–1939
9. Marginal matters: the printing industry, 1925–1937
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]