Women's occupations 1861 census

[ScouseBoy]

Apart from the above the reason for the census was to track the migration of the population as well as growth. Much of this was work related to men so what women did wasn't considered important & it was pretty much left to the enumerator whether a woman's job was recorded as there were no clear directions as to whether a woman's occupation should be listed.

  Attitudes have changed since those days.

[Kaliannan]

 http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on July 4, 2016
I found this journal article which discusses the changes in understanding the role of women as shown by the census. I hope it is of interest.

Phil

[MaxD]

There is another factor in this - whether the area had the type of industry/employment that women were particularly adept at.  For example, Nuneaton, a centre of silk ribbon weaving in the mid 1800s, is one of the areas in my wife's family and in 1861 every second girl/woman is a silk weaver.  See https://nuneatonmemories.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/silk-ribbon-weaving/

maxD

[stanmapstone]

There is another factor in this - whether the area had the type of industry/employment that women were particularly adept at.

Also the cotton mills in Lancashire.

Stan

[ScouseBoy]

There is another factor in this - whether the area had the type of industry/employment that women were particularly adept at.  For example, Nuneaton, a centre of silk ribbon weaving in the mid 1800s, is one of the areas in my wife's family and in 1861 every second girl/woman is a silk weaver.  See https://nuneatonmemories.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/silk-ribbon-weaving/

maxD

  And there was large scale  migration to places  such as Lancashire  for the work and the new jobs.