Gender in English Society 1650-1850

In this social history of gender roles, the author examines change in the spheres of men and women, in family life and in public activity before and during the Industrial Revolution. He re-examines the view that women had greater economic and political opportunities in pre-industrial England.

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A lively social history of the roles of men and women - from workplace to household, from parish church to alehouse, from market square to marriage bed. Robert Shoemaker investigates such varied topics as crime, leisure, the theatre, religious observance, notions of morality and even changing patterns of sexual activity itself.