ABSTRACT
It will now be evident from the data and discussion in Part I that there were conditions of labour and aspects of women’s lives which threatened their health and wellbeing. Only some of these threats were attended to by lay activists, reformers, or by the State and its officials, who sought remedy for them. The selective focus on aspects of work and working conditions was directly related to gender divisions in the labour market, work and wider society. In terms of responses to perceived problems the State is an important starting point, because it was views of the State and its function in relation to the regulation of working conditions that in large measure conditioned the responses made by others.
