joerookery
Well-known member
ps1957 by joerookery, on Flickr
A group of domestic servants. This was a major avenue of employment for lower-class women. It is not clear if this is a class or a household. The woman in the center is holding an iron.
During this same time, hostility to women’s emancipation was significant. In 1910, Max Funke declared that females were an evolutionary missing link between Homo sapiens and less advanced species. One-half of all women, who were employed, worked in agriculture. A third of working women were domestic servants and no more than one-sixth worked in factories. Additionally, women were expected to do all of the household chores after a 10-hour working day. They also did sewing at home on piece rates, did laundry and ironing for a fee, and took in boarders.
Legally, the position of women was far more restrictive than other European nations and was even codified into the Civil Code, which took effect in 1900. The Civil Code listed the husband as the head of the family and the guardian of the wife. The law was very clear that women had no right to equality within the marriage. Several sections of the Civil Code are particularly interesting.
§1354 stated that the husband was responsible for decisions in all matters affecting married life and in particular would decide where the family would reside. In §1356 the wife has the right and the duty to manage the common household.
§1357 gave the husband the authority to restrict his wife in business affairs.
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