ABSTRACT
In the Lancashire cotton weaving industry the labour process offered no opportunity for anchoring differences of gender as a way of bestowing on them some seemingly objective quality. 'Driving' was the term employed in Lancashire cotton weaving to denote methods of bringing extra pressure to bear on workers to increase output. The weavers' unions consistently employed the Darwen suicide to drive home to the cotton operatives for strong organizations as a prerequisite to combating driving successfully. The exploitation inherent in the capitalist mode of production was submerged by women's supposed unfitness to cope. The remark implied, driving jeopardized Britain's leading role as an industrial nation through the detrimental effects it had on women's reproductive capacity. The power relationship played out in fining was noted by a half-timer working as a cloth-looker's clerk. Male operatives and union officials in particular used the anti-driving campaigns to enhance their self-image, portraying themselves as less vulnerable to pressure.
