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Gender bias in nineteenth-century England: Evidence from factory children

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  • Horrell, Sara
  • Oxley, Deborah

Abstract

Gender bias against girls in nineteenth-century England has received much interest but establishing its existence has proved difficult. We utilise data on heights of 16,402 children working in northern textile factories in 1837 to examine whether gender bias was evident. Current interpretations argue against any difference. Here our comparisons with modern height standards reveal greater deprivation for girls than for boys. Discrimination is measured in girls’ height-for-age score (HAZ) falling eight standard errors below boys’ at ages 11, 11.5 and 12 years of age, capturing the very poor performance of factory girls. But this result cannot be taken at face value. We query whether modern standards require adjustment to account for the later timing of puberty in historical populations and develop an alternative. We also test the validity of the age data, considering whether parents were more prone to lie about the ages of their daughters, and question whether the supply of girls was fundamentally different from that of boys. We conclude that neither proposition is justified. Disadvantage to girls remains, although its absence amongst younger children precludes an indictment of culturally founded gender bias. The height data must remain mute on the source of this discrimination but we utilise additional information to examine some hypotheses: occupational sorting, differential susceptibility to disease, poorer nutrition for girls, disproportionate stunting from the effects of nutritional deprivation, and type and amount of work undertaken. Of these we suggest that girls had to do arduous physical labour in the home alongside their factory work. The only (unsubstantiated) alternative is that girls were more likely than boys to be put into factory work below the legal age limit. Both represent forms of gender bias.

Suggested Citation

  • Horrell, Sara & Oxley, Deborah, 2016. "Gender bias in nineteenth-century England: Evidence from factory children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 47-64.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:22:y:2016:i:c:p:47-64
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2016.03.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sara Horrell & Deborah Oxley, 1999. "Crust or crumb?: Intrahousehold resource allocation and male breadwinning in late Victorian Britain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 52(3), pages 494-522, August.
    2. Schofield, R. S., 1973. "Dimensions of illiteracy, 1750-1850," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 437-454.
    3. Humphries, Jane, 1990. "Enclosures, Common Rights, and Women: The Proletarianization of Families in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 17-42, March.
    4. Burnette,Joyce, 2008. "Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521880633, September.
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    6. Sara Horrell & Deborah Oxley, 2013. "Bargaining for basics? Inferring decision making in nineteenth-century British households from expenditure, diet, stature, and death," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(2), pages 147-170, May.
    7. Sara Horrell & Deborah Oxley, 2012. "Bringing home the bacon? Regional nutrition, stature, and gender in the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(4), pages 1354-1379, November.
    8. Humphries,Jane, 2010. "Childhood and Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521847568, September.
    9. Stephen Nicholas & Deborah Oxley, 1993. "The living standards of women during the industrial revolution, 1795-1820," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 46(4), pages 723-749, November.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Youssouf Merouani & Faustine Perrin, 2022. "Gender and the long-run development process. A survey of the literature [Rethinking age heaping: A cautionary tale from nineteenth-century Italy]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(4), pages 612-641.
    3. Pei Gao & Eric B. Schneider, 2021. "The growth pattern of British children, 1850–1975," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 341-371, May.
    4. Schneider, Eric B., 2018. "Sample selection biases and the historical growth pattern of children," Economic History Working Papers 87075, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Diebolt, Claude & Mishra, Tapas & Perrin, Faustine, 2021. "Gender empowerment as an enforcer of individuals’ choice between education and fertility: Evidence from 19th century France," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 408-438.
    6. Francisco J Beltrán Tapia & Francisco J Marco-Gracia, 2022. "Death, sex, and fertility: female infanticide in rural Spain, 1750–1950 [Son targeting fertility behaviour: some consequences and determinants]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(2), pages 234-254.
    7. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Michail Raftakis, 2019. "‘All little girls, the bad luck!’ Sex ratios and gender discrimination in 19th-century Greece," Working Papers 0172, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Koepke, Nikola & Floris, Joël & Pfister, Christian & Rühli, Frank J. & Staub, Kaspar, 2018. "Ladies first: Female and male adult height in Switzerland, 1770–1930," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 76-87.
    9. Galofré-Vilà, Gregori, 2018. "Growth and maturity: A quantitative systematic review and network analysis in anthropometric history," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 107-118.
    10. Xuesheng You, 2024. "Female relatives and domestic service in nineteenth‐century England and Wales: Female kin servants revisited," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 444-471, May.
    11. Schneider, Eric B., 2023. "The determinants of child stunting and shifts in the growth pattern of children: a long-run, global review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    13. Blum, Matthias & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2019. "Living standards and inequality in the industrial revolution: Evidence from the height of University of Edinburgh students in the 1830s," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 185-192.
    14. Arsenault Morin, Alex & Geloso, Vincent & Kufenko, Vadim, 2017. "The heights of French-Canadian convicts, 1780s–1820s," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 126-136.
    15. Mancini, Giulia, 2020. "Breadwinner, bread maker. Gender division of labor and intrahousehold inequality in 1930s rural Italy," MPRA Paper 102142, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender bias; Heights; C19th England; Factory children;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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