ABSTRACT
Historians began to analyse the social construction of gender, and to investigate the interplay between gender hierarchies and other social hierarchies, such as those of race and class. They emphasized that any use of the word 'women' really only meant some women in any society, so that generalizations or chronological comparisons were never completely accurate; some theorists even suggested dropping the word 'women' altogether, as it was either essentialist in its definition or exclusionary. Feminist economic historians, both Marxist and non-Marxist, argue that work and other economic activities cannot be detached from the family and other political and social institutions. Reproduction is defined not simply as childbearing, but as the care and nurturing of all family members, which allowed them to take part in productive labour. This is especially true for late medieval and early modern societies in which production often went on in the household, for all family members took part in both productive and reproductive labour.
