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Gender equality, growth, and how a technological trap destroyed female work

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  • Jane Humphries
  • Benjamin Schneider

Abstract

Development economists have long studied the relationship between gender equality and economic growth. More recently, economic historians have taken an overdue interest. We sketch the pathways within the development literature that have been hypothesized as linking equality for women to rising incomes, and the reverse channels – from higher incomes to equality. We describe how the European Marriage Pattern literature applies these mechanisms, and we highlight problems with the claimed link between equality and growth. We then explain how a crucial example of technological unemployment for women – the destruction of hand spinning during the British Industrial Revolution – contributed to the emergence of the male breadwinner family. We show how this family structure created household relationships that play into the development pathways, and outline its persistent effects into the twenty-first century.

Suggested Citation

  • Jane Humphries & Benjamin Schneider, 2021. "Gender equality, growth, and how a technological trap destroyed female work," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 428-438, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:428-438
    DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1929606
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Schneider, 2022. "Good Jobs and Bad Jobs in History," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _202, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Benjamin Schneider, 2023. "Technological unemployment in the British industrial revolution: the destruction of hand spinning," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _207, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Benjamin Schneider & Hillary Vipond, 2023. "The Past and Future of Work: How History Can Inform the Age of Automation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10766, CESifo.
    4. Schneider, Benjamin & Vipond, Hillary, 2023. "The past and future of work: how history can inform the age of automation," Economic History Working Papers 119282, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.

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