[CHAPTER II.] WOMEN IN THE TRADES.
Census figures.
Before 1841 the census occupation tables do not state the numbers employed in the detailed trades, and even in that year we find either that no separate return was made for some of the industries with which this volume deals, or that no women were employed at all. Presumably, therefore, previous statistics would not have shown that women were employed in these industries to any appreciable extent.
The following tables show the employment of women in England and Wales and Scotland in the Printing and Kindred Trades according to the census returns from 1841 to 1901. The figures must be used with caution, as they include employers as well as employed (an error, however, which is immaterial in the case of women workers). Subsidiary helpers are also classified with those actually entitled to be regarded as members of the trade, and the tables do not discriminate sufficiently between the various subdivisions of occupations. These last two errors considerably affect the figures relating to women. In the bookbinding section, for instance,[4] the figures are altogether misleading, since by far the greater number of women included as bookbinders are really paper and book-folders, and are no more entitled to the name bookbinder than a bricklayer's labourer is to that of bricklayer.
[4] Since 1881 in the Scottish returns.
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Census 1841. (Employers and Employed included.)
| Males. | Females. | |
|---|---|---|
| Booksellers, bookbinders, etc. | 8,873 | 2,035 |
| Printers | 15,582 | 161 |
| Lithographers, etc. | 667 | 12 |
| Paper manufacture | 4,375 | 1,287 |
| Paper rulers | 113 | 16 |
| Paper stainers | 1,243 | 92 |
| Type founders | 629 | 6 |
| Vellum binders | 131 | 3 |
Census 1851. (Employers and Employed included.)