Gender and the Politics of Office Work in the Netherlands,1860-1940

by Francisca de Haan

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789053563045
Publisher:	Amsterdam University Press
Publication date:	06/01/1998
Edition description:	1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Francisca de Haan is a research fellow at the Netherlands Economic History Archive. She is also affiliated with the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement (HAV) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
 
Introduction
 
1. Decent and Suitable Employment for Middle-Class Women, 1860-1940
2. 'The Spirit of Mercury', The Gender Struggle in the Unions, 1882-1940
3. Institute Schoevers, 'the Secretar' and the Women's Movement, 1913 through the 1950s
4. Femal Office Clerks as the Focus of an Anti-Feminist Backlash in the Interwar Years
5. A Look into the Office: Stories of Former Female Office Clerks, 1910-1940
 
List of Abbreviations
List of Dutch women's Organization
 
Notes
Bibliography
Appendices
Index
About the Author