ABSTRACT
The large number of females employed in the weaving sheds of Lancashire diligently attended their looms in order to make a contribution to family income. Although the need for females to carry on in paid employment for the best part of their lives was generally acknowledged by the cotton community, the tenacity with which women weavers clung to their jobs cannot be attributed to penury alone. Skill is most commonly thought of as denoting those faculties and abilities that a particular job requires from the worker performing it and which are acquired during a period of training, either formal or informal. Physical strength was one attribute believed to differ between genders. They would regularly bring their family troubles to the shopfloor, telling colleagues about family rows. Women took pride in their ability to make an important contribution to family income on the basis of their competence at work. This combined with the satisfaction derived from performing a complicated job well.
