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How Men Valued Women's Work: Labour In and Outside the Home in Post-War Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2019

Laura King Open the ORCID record for Laura King [Opens in a new window]
Laura King*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds, Faculty of History, Michael Sadler Building, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
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[email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines men's valuing of women's work in the post-1945 period. It considers men's perspectives on female labour in and outside the home in the context of women's wartime work, the increase in married women working and the greater involvement of men in family life. I argue that men saw their wives’ and partners’ work as of lesser value than their own, in various ways, even if the money women's paid work brought in could significantly improve living standards. This was true even in the most caring, loving relationships. The article employs a broad definition of value, considering the social and cultural value of work alongside its economic outcomes. It places subjective accounts from interviews within a wider cultural and political context and contributes a new perspective to post-war British historiography by focusing on both paid labour and domestic work, and the negotiation of value between men and women.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , November 2019 , pp. 454 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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