Women and Work in Britain since 1840 fills a neglected gap in the literature available to student on the topic of gender and work in Britain from the 1840s through the 20th century. The goal of the book, according to Holloway, is to guide students and those interested in the field through the vast quantities of material available on the subject and to highlight important texts. Holloway also seeks to identify some of the most significant debates on women and work in this period, and to evaluate the progress that has been made in the journey towards economic independence and equal opportunities for women in Britain. Though Holloway attempts to cover great ground in this study – the mere task of looking at women's employment over a 150 year period is a difficult one – she does accomplish many of her goals. Holloway has certainly produced an overview of women's employment history in Great Britain that will prove to be a valuable resource for students.
The book is ordered chronologically and divided into four sections. Within these sections Holloway addresses different areas of work and prevalent debates concerning women and paid labor during each era. Part one focuses on women's work from 1840‐70. In chapter two of this segment, Holloway discusses working class women and paid work. There are sections in this chapter addressing domestic work, laundry work, needlework, factory work, agricultural work and mining. In this section, Holloway frequently speaks to the idea of gendered separate spheres without using this terminology – she does mention the notion and debate around the concept of separate spheres in her introduction – instead she refers to this debate of acceptable work for women under an umbrella of being suitable within the Victorian bourgeois patriarchal family structure. Holloway also leaves out of this section any discussion of the societal desire to sequester women into spheres of domestic work as being associated with the evangelical Christian nature of the nation during this time.
Another topic tackled by Holloway in part one of the book is the “problem with the ‘superfluous’ women”. In this chapter, the author discusses middle‐class single women and work. Holloway addresses the very interesting and often studied results of the 1851 census describing a surplus of unmarried women. Holloway does a very good job in this section describing the type of work that was available to middle‐class women and its acceptability in society. She describes the widening sphere of work for middle‐class women during this era focusing on the Society for the promotion of the Employment of Women.
In the following three sections of Women and work in Britain from 1840, Holloway looks closely at different areas of study concerning women and employment from 1870 until the 20th century. She focuses on women and work from 1870‐1914, by addressing the topics of women organizing into trade unions and other industrial organizations, decisive issues in the industrial women's movement, and women's work before the first world war. She addresses the working era for women between 1914‐1945 by creating a picture of the effect of the two world wars on women's employment. Holloway also spends time looking at the changes in women's work in the inter‐war period. The focus of the section from 1945 until the end of the century divides into two categories the first being employment in the 1950s and 1960s and the second discusses the issue from 1969 onwards. This second segment takes a very close look at the work during this time by focusing on the time period as an era of equal opportunities.
One theme in the book that is almost entirely absent is that of race and ethnicity. Holloway does not very effectively describe the workforce that she is discussing for her reader. It is not until the final section of the book that race and ethnicity are discussed in a comprehensive manner. Holloway chooses to ignore the subject until she discusses post‐war immigration. Although inclusion of delineation of employment by race may not have been the most valuable use of space in her book, making it clear that the populations she was discussing were generally white middle and lower class women would have been valuable for the students this book is meant to be serving. It may also have been useful for Holloway to describe in better geographic terms, within Britain, the population she was focusing on.
Holloway does a great job threading the themes of education and training throughout the book. She also looks very closely at the perception of women in Britain as a cheap and available when necessary labor force throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the great values of this book is the effort by Holloway to highlight areas in the field where more research is needed. This inclusion is a helpful tool for students both in their own research pursuits and in their understanding of gaps in the academic literature on the subject. Further accompaniments which add to the value of the book as a reader for students are the annotated bibliography, the collection of important biographies, and a chronology of important events. The chronology is particularly valuable as it places the volume within a broader historical context. The book is certainly a very readable text for students, it very nicely overviews important subjects within the overarching topic of women and work in Britain. While this book would not be suitable as the only text in a class on the subject it would be a great starting off point for students interested in the general topic of women and work in Britain.
