How Gender Can Transform the Social Sciences by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030432362
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Impact

The impact of feminist perspectives on economic history has been profound.

First, it has encouraged a rethinking of the way we do history. Reading sources against the grain has enriched our perceptions of the past. Understanding that women’s experience is different from men’s experience has created more inclusive histories where women and other marginal groups are no longer excluded from the ‘rich dead white male’ narrative. Second, it has brought recognition of the very real gendered power structures that presented barriers to women’s full participation in all aspects of public life.

Third, the latest wave of feminist history has directed our attention to groups of women not normally considered feminist heroines and away from labour history as the study of employer/employee relations. These moves follow in the footsteps of those earlier feminist historians who encouraged us to broaden definitions of economic activity and labour to encompass unpaid work, including domestic housekeeping and the social, cultural and family work often undertaken by women. This latest expansion of perspective has allowed us to recognise the presence of self-employed women, neither employees nor housewives, who had small, part-time, often hand-to-mouth businesses that might be run from the domestic space of the house as well as larger, more profitable and long-lasting enterprises.

Bringing the experiences of these women to the fore is significant for women in the public sphere today. It reinforces our understanding that the idea of separate spheres is based on something of a false dichotomy, that public and private worlds are inextricably intertwined. ‘Work/life balance’ is not an entirely new concept and more research is needed into the experiences of both women and men in the meshed worlds of home and work.

Feminist perspectives on economic history ensure that we understand that women’s participation in the public sphere is not a new phenomenon but has a long history. Establishing a tradition of women in business helps to legitimise female participation in all spheres of life. Despite the ubiquity of the phrase ‘a woman’s place is in the home’, the belief that women were once restricted to the private sphere can no longer stand unchallenged—women have always had many roles in the ‘public’ sphere, particularly in the world of commerce (Fig. 10.1).

Fig. 10.1Mrs. McDowall’s Millinery Emporium (also dress and mantle making), Hill End

(Source Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, reference 62692)

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