ABSTRACT
Most single women belonged to households, either as daughters or servants. Most were young, but whatever their age, single women were regarded as dependents of the household in which they lived and worked. Under the domestic mode of production most work was organized around a household, the basic unit of which was a married couple. Girls either worked at home or for another family. If they were to escape this state of dependency, they had to marry, for single adult women were effectively children. The language of the day equated a girl with a maid, a maid with a servant. Age, marital status, and occupation were inseparably intertwined.
