Pioneers of Social Progress?: Gender and Technology in British Printing Trade Union Journals, 1840–65

This essay examines mid-nineteenth century compositors’ and bookbinders’ trade union journals and their presentation of gendered workplaces: the male world of the skilled compositor and the female realm of book-folders and stitchers. Compositors were among the best educated of London artisans who were anxious to safeguard their traditions against the combined threat of apprentices, women compositors, and mechanization. By emphasizing the masculine traditions of the craft, opposing technology, and arguing for women’s relegation to the domestic sphere, compositors’ journals constructed a socially conservative community that stood in stark contrast to the bookbinders’ union, which campaigned on behalf of a female workforce.