Women Assemble : Women Workers and the New Industries in Inter-War Britain (Routledge Library Editions: Women and Work)

Why did working-class women become the central labour force on assembly lines in the new consumer goods’ industries of the inter-war period? What was the long-term significance of this for the pattern of women’s work, both in paid employment and in the home? Originally published in 1990, Women Assemble fills a major gap in the history of women and work, and develops a theory of women’s class relations, and of course gender and class more generally, by means of an original case-study. Taken from a wide variety of sources, it uses a multidisciplinary approach and is brought to life by interviews with people who worked in assembly-line industries during the inter-war period. This extremely readable study is important to feminists, historians, and sociologists, as well as to all those concerned with issues of gender, class, and the labour process.