Juteopolis and After: Women and Work in Twentieth-Century Dundee

Citation

Wright V (2011) Juteopolis and After: Women and Work in Twentieth-Century Dundee. In: Jute No More: Transforming Dundee. Dundee: Dundee University Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781845860905.003.0006

Abstract
This chapter considers the ways in which Dundonian women were affected by their involvement in the workforce, and how far they were able to take advantage of the economic and cultural circumstances of the city. Dundee remained a largely patriarchal society throughout the twentieth century. The patriarchal attitudes evident in the jute companies as well as those locating in Dundee in the immediate post-war years ensured that men retained positions of authority while women worked in ‘low-skilled’, monotonous and repetitive jobs. Even during the more recent expansion of public administration, education, and health sectors in Dundee, and also the growth of distribution, there remained a gender pay gap, with this being the case throughout Scotland and Britain.

Keywords
Dundee; Scotland; employment; female women; patriarchal society; labour force