This book examines the effects of the process of industrialization on the lives of women, both as paid workers and within the home. Jane Rendall surveys the major areas in which women were employed and then considers the impact of industrialization on the working class family and the effect on family life of the employment of women. She takes into account the debates among historians on these subjects. She discusses the changing relationship between domestic responsibilities and paid work undertaken in the home and the effect of industrialization on household work, covering the importance of female and neighbourhood networks, sometimes based on the sharing of domestic work. Dr Rendall explores the changing definitions of work (and how they differed for men and women) and asks to what extent did the 19th century see a major redefinition of the appropriate division of labour for men and women.