ABSTRACT
The sexual division of labour describes the objective differences between what men and women in society are primarily defined as and are primarily (regarded as) responsible for. It constitutes an actual role and an actual area of responsibility. Some women felt they could take outside work throughout their child-bearing years and still cope; a few refused to consider any outside work even when the children were quite grown up. The kinds of jobs the women were in – overwhelmingly cleaning, catering and shopwork – are all traditionally low paid. Their wages were shockingly low, sometimes less than half the average female wage. The women’s attitudes to equal pay showed clearly that they regarded their work as of quite different character to that of their husbands. While they supported the principle of equal pay enthusi astically, they took the formula ‘for equal work’ to mean identical work.
