A hidden workforce: Homeworkers in England, 1850-1985 (Women in society)

Homeworkers are usually women who work in their own homes for an outside employer and are paid on a one-piece basis. The work is usually unskilled and of a boring and repetitive nature. The economic status of the homeworker has little or nothing in common with the independent craftsman working in his own home before the onset of industrialization; homeworkers work without supervision and have no real contact with their employers or sub-contractors except when collecting or returning work. This volume is an analysis of the economic and social position of the predominantly female labour force of the homework industries from 1850 to 1985. The text examines changes that have occurred in the composition of the labour force, the alternatives open to women and the types and geographical location of homework. The authors critically evaluate attempts to improve the position of homeworkers and comment on the prospects for homeworking in the future.