Women's health or social control? the role of the medical profession in relation to factory legislation in late nineteenth century Britain

Abstract

AbstractBased on an analysis of primary and secondary documentary sources this paper examines the relationship of medical men to state intervention in women's labour. Focusing on factory legislation it explores the extent to which this intervention may be seen as an attempt to alleviate the health consequences of industrial work or as a means of social control, which is defined here in terms of actual restrictions on women's participation in the paid labour market and of the assertion of their primary role within the private domain. The involvement of medical practitioners in such questions is also assessed in terms of the consequences for industrial medicine. The paper argues that factory legislation failed to meet either its social purpose, or the health needs of working women, while reinforcing the ideology of 'separate spheres’and the moral and social responsibilities of the state