This case-study of a fast-growing segment of the labor market examines the meaning of office work for women: their prolonged struggle to be admitted to the unions, the role of the Schoevers Institute—the Dutch Katharine Gibbs School—in shaping the occupation of secretary, the conservative backlash against female office workers between the two world wars, and finally, the way these women look back on their time in the office, including their experiences of sexual harassment. Gender and the Politics of Office Work in the Netherlands, 1860-1940 is a revised and abridged version of Sekse op kantoor. Over vrouwelijkheid, mannelijkheid en macht, Nederland 1860-1940 (Hilversum 1992), winner of the prestigious academic prize of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation.
This original study discusses the role of women in developing and dispersing caring power and, vice-versa, the role of caring power in constituting 'women' as modern social subjects, processes which began around 1800. Based on the historian-/philosopher Foucault's concept of pastoral power, "caring power" also takes into account the vital role played by gender. Both humanitarian and religious motives fostered the ideal of serving the well-being of individual 'others' and thereby the interest of society as a whole. With the rise of caring power, this book argues, women began to feel responsible for 'those of their own sex' and to organize themselves in all-female organizations. In the process they carved out new gender identities for themselves and the women in their care. The authors illustrate this profound historical change with the work of the reformers Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) and Josephine Butler (1828-1906) and trace their impact in Britain and the Netherlands.
This original study discusses the role of women in developing and dispersing caring power and, vice-versa, the role of caring power in constituting 'women' as modern social subjects, processes which began around 1800. Based on the historian-/philosopher Foucault's concept of pastoral power, "caring power" also takes into account the vital role played by gender. Both humanitarian and religious motives fostered the ideal of serving the well-being of individual 'others' and thereby the interest of society as a whole. With the rise of caring power, this book argues, women began to feel responsible for 'those of their own sex' and to organize themselves in all-female organizations. In the process they carved out new gender identities for themselves and the women in their care. The authors illustrate this profound historical change with the work of the reformers Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) and Josephine Butler (1828-1906) and trace their impact in Britain and the Netherlands.
This case-study of a fast-growing segment of the labor market examines the meaning of office work for women: their prolonged struggle to be admitted to the unions, the role of the Schoevers Institute—the Dutch Katharine Gibbs School—in shaping the occupation of secretary, the conservative backlash against female office workers between the two world wars, and finally, the way these women look back on their time in the office, including their experiences of sexual harassment. Gender and the Politics of Office Work in the Netherlands, 1860-1940 is a revised and abridged version of Sekse op kantoor. Over vrouwelijkheid, mannelijkheid en macht, Nederland 1860-1940 (Hilversum 1992), winner of the prestigious academic prize of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation.
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