ABSTRACT
To approach official statistics from a gendered perspective is to run straight into questions of definition. The purpose of this chapter is to suggest ways in which we might query the map of the sexual division of labour in France in the interwar period as it is usually drawn, and the definitions and sources-notably the census-on which it is based.1 The relevance of apparently neutral statistical records to the politics of gender will be explored after examining the way such data usually reaches us.
