The limits of difference : a comparative study of the relationship between women workers and trade unionism in the tobacco and hat industries

Salin, Sandra (2000) The limits of difference : a comparative study of the relationship between women workers and trade unionism in the tobacco and hat industries. Doctoral thesis, University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

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Abstract

This thesis is based on the thorough examination of archival sources in relation to two industries in which women formed the majority of the workforce in France between 1890 and 1914. Its main aim is to establish a comparison between the tobacco and hat industries in
relation to women's participation in their respective unions and federations. Subsidiary aims are to assess the way in which women perceived themselves, and were perceived, both as workers and as women, as well as to explore how female workers' involvement in unions related to the wider issues of female militancy and feminism. This thesis concentrates on four key aspects, namely women in industry, trade unions attitudes to women, the relationship between women and trade unionism and, finally, the relationship between women and strikes. So far, general comparative studies have raised points but they have not been followed through nor supported by enough evidence to make them historically fully viable and no detailed case study has been undertaken in this field prior to 1914. In this context, the choice and comparison of the tobacco and hat industries are determining in at least three ways. First
of all, no extensive research has been devoted to female workers in these two industries, let alone in their respective unions and federations. This makes the contribution of this thesis particularly valuable in the history of women in the labour movement. Secondly, women in
general were in the minority in unions, which led to the assumption that they were reluctant to trade unionism. Yet, the fact that female tobacco workers were in the majority in their unions casts doubt on this traditional assumption. This makes this particular study of considerable significance in the understanding of the role of women as members and militants before the first world war. In addition, the fact that female tobacco workers were state workers makes it possible to assess the importance of the nature of industries and the working environment in determining female membership and militancy, which provides further evidence to support previous hypotheses.

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