Work and Time-use in the English Household Budgets of Frédéric Le Play, 1850-1888

Sophie McGeevor, PhD student in History

My research addresses the relationship between market and non-market work in the 19th century, and in particular, the ways in which households negotiated the division of their labour in this period. The principal source for my thesis are the household monographs produced by the French social scientist Frédéric Le Play and his followers, which provide some of the earliest estimates of the time demands of 'housework' and other forms of non-market work.

Figure 1: London Cutler's Households' Income Table, Les Ouvriers Européen, 2nd ed, Vol.3, p.290-291.

Non-market work encompasses all forms of work for which the goods or services produced do not enter the market economy in exchange for cash or kind; typically they are consumed by the household or family of which the producer/s are a part. An example of this would be a loaf of bread made by a wife and consumed by herself and her family (non-market work), in contrast to a loaf made by a baker and sold to her customers (market work). The history of women's work has, for the most part, focussed on the history of women's market-oriented work. However, it now widely understood that non-market work such as childrearing, cleaning, nursing, food production and preparation, and the making and mending of clothes, provide the social and economic foundations for society now as in the past. This is what makes the burgeoning study of time-use pioneered by Shelia Ogilvie and developed by the Gender and Work Group so important.

Table 1: The Derbyshire Foundryman's household's annual days in market and non-market work and income (pence), including an imputed income for 'housework' at 12d. per day (Foundryman's wife) and 6.d per day (Foundryman's children). Les Ouvriers Européen, 2nd ed, Vol.3, p.412-421.

While there are a limited number of pre-20^th century sources which provide descriptive accounts of non-market work, there are far fewer which provide systematic quantifiable evidence of the time spent in non-market work. This makes the Le Play's monographs, which record both estimates of the annual days spent in non-market work by individuals in a household, and descriptions of their work, such a rare and valuable source. This thesis is based on a close analysis of seven English household monographs produced by Le Play and his followers, between 1850-1888.