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1、Research on English Womens Employment and Income in the19thCenturySummary: 本文主要研究19世纪英国妇女的工资情况，从19世纪就业妇女的工作种类、工资情况分析着手，再深入剖析其原因。通过分析可以看出，在19世纪的英国，就业妇女的工作大多是知识、技术含量低下的种类，其工资情况也不容乐观，究其主要原因是受“男主外女主内”传统观念的影响，通过妇女的就业与工资情况可以看出当时英国社会下妇女的地位，也从侧面揭示了男性的主导地位，向世界展示了部分欧洲的社会与文化风貌。另外，研究这一课题对于我国现代化建设中如何处理妇女在劳动市场中的经
2、济地位、社会地位具有指导性的意义。Research on English Womens Employment and Income in the 19th Century1、Types of Employment During the process of modernization in the 19th century,women was at the border of jobs.There were about 4 types of their employment.Most women worked at home or in the part which was related t
3、o the extension of home jobs.The majority of these jobs belonged to non-skillful and low-paid industry and we called these jobs home service trades.Home service trades can be divided by long-term service and short-time service.Both of them took the job of cooking meals,washing clothes,looking after
4、the children and cleaning the room.The second biggest women industry was textile.Women in the industry could only work in the department of spinning and weaving which was dirty and strength-consuming.These departments were of low-technique and low-income.Women were excluded from the skillful jobs.An
5、other kind of job was called blood and sweat industry which was also one of departments many women working in.This department included sewing ,knitting and such so kinds of manufacturing jobs.Income of this kind of department is much lower than that of women in factory.However,after 1970s,with the d
6、evelopment of industry,because of a revolution,white-collar revolution,a new department came into being.Women began to take up some technical jobs.But the grade was still low.Their occupations were focused typist,telegrapher and telephone operator and so on.Just like other departments,their income w
7、ere only about 25% to 50% of men.Even if one woman and man took up the same kind of job,mans income was much higher than those of woman.2、 Income of Employment On the whole,womens pay was lower than the mans in the same trade and women belonged to the low-pay group.In the late 20s and the early 30s
8、of the 19th century,womens average income was about 1/3 to 1/2 of mens.It was just nearly 40% of men workers income even if the highest wage.Many maidservants couldnt even support themselves for their annual income was not more than 20 pounds,while men servants could earn about 50 pounds at ease.Jus
9、t as many people professed,agricultural workwomen are the lowest-paid group in the world.So it was so unfair and depressing.It could also be easily understood that many women took marriage as an approach of avoiding unemployment and maintaining the livelihood.The poor could accept any marriage,even
10、the illegal marriage because this was the only way to live themselves.Mothers would encourage the marriage to relieve the burden of the family.So the phenomenon of gender discrimination was very severe in employment.3、 Cause of this phenomenon Some scholars thought that womens worktime was less than
11、 men because of their natural weakness and pregnance,which affected the investments to their labor resources from family and society.So both society and families attached more importances to mens education.Lots of gates of high-rank education were closed to girls in the long term.It was not until th
12、e late 19th that only few women were allowed to study in colleges.But some famous universities wouldnt confer a degree certificate on women officially until the 20th century.This brought about the result that womens abilities were not better than mens.So it is not difficult to understand why many pe
13、ople took it as granted that women were lower than men and this resulted in womens low income. On the other hand,the traditional view that men were in charge of external affairs while women in charge of internal affairs affected the phenomenon on the root.People took marriage and mother as the best
14、and result for women.It was their largest responsibilities to do housework,give pleasures to their husbands and create wonderful family atmosphere.It was also commonly considered that women couldnt take on the economic responsibilities independently and their income could only support themselves.So
15、many employers took these theories as tools to reduce womens wage and made high profits.4、 Conclusion The phenomenon of womens low pay had penetrated into various fields of society and human life,and dominated peoples minds and actions.It couldnt collapse swiftly with the changes of society life and economic structure.The phenomenons of gender division of labor,gender wage and female subordinating male couldnt be straightened out in the short term.So it was the key to break the shackles of traditional ideas and slove the problem of gender discrimination.