Clerical Labor Intensity and the Feminization of Clerical Labor in Great Britain, 1857-1937 Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The origins of occupational sex-types are investigated by studying the feminization of clerical work. Two British firms are contrasted, the General Post Office, which used female clerks, and the Great Western Railway, which used male clerks. The main finding is that offices and firms whose labor force was predominantly nonclerical tended to use male rather than female clerks. This is because the high proportion of nonclerical labor costs in these offices made it economical to budget relatively higher clerical labor costs, thus permitting more expensive male labor. 1985, The University of North Carolina Press.

published proceedings

  • Social Forces

author list (cited authors)

  • Cohn, S. R.

citation count

  • 1

publication date

  • January 1985