Industrial Restructuring And Women's Employment: The Case Of The Food Industry In Inter-War Britain

This thesis examines in a detailed historical investigation the types of work which were assigned to women workers in the food-processing industry during the inter-war period. This includes an investigation of the impact of mass production methods on sexual divisions in the industry. The main focus is on the interrelationship between changes in the technical division of labour and changes in the sexual division of labour in a period of capital restructuring. Chapter one investigates factors which contributed to the growth of the food-processing industry during this period. Chapter two analyses changes in the industrial structure of the food-processing industry. The impact of mechanization through the introduction of assembly line is of special concern. A detailed examination of mechanization in different branches of the food processing industry is the subject of chapter three. Changes in women's employment in the food-processing industry are investigated in chapter four. This includes an analysis of their industrial and occupational distribution and of sexual divisions in the industry. In chapter five the impact of industrial restructuring on the skill structure of the labour force is analysed. In chapter six the link between both changes in the technical division of labour and changes in the sexual division of labour is discussed in the light of several explanatory models. These include labour market segmentation theory, labour process theory and recent feminist theories.