Women, work and cotton manufacturing -- Organising the factory : manufacturers choices -- The choices for work in textile communities -- Millwork : pay, work and equity -- A time to work -- Collective action -- Gender, health and working conditions -- Womens impact on industrial development :...

Young women and work -- Earning a living : daughters and the family economy -- Entering employment -- Mobility, migration, and aspiration -- Work culture -- "Frivolous" workers? : trade unionism and militancy -- Beyond the workplace : leisure and courtship

Using case studies from Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan, this text traces cross-national differences in contemporary training regimes back to the political settlement achieved among employers in skill-intensive industries, artisans and early trade unions in the 19th century