Where was Mrs Turner?:Governance and Gender in an Eighteenth-Century Village

Tadmor, Naomi (2013) Where was Mrs Turner?:Governance and Gender in an Eighteenth-Century Village. In: Remaking English Society. Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History . Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, pp. 89-112. ISBN 9781843837961

Abstract

This study examines the role of gender in the early modern public sphere by bringing together two fields -:women's history and parish studies. For decades, historians debated the alleged withdrawal of middling 18th century women from the market and the workshop to the parlour. Instead, this study highlights women's work, with the aid of a case study. At the same time, it emphasises middling men's increasing role in local government, especially from the early 18th century - from which women were excluded. The work explains how this increase resulted from changing legislation and mounting pressures on local government, connected to the administration of the 'poor laws'. The extent of this male work is also demonstrated through a case study, which suggests that as middling men's public life became more onerous, it was supported by female and household labour.