Female employment in Malta between 1900s-1930s

Abstract

This perception about the lack of women engaging in work could be related to the rise of the wage labour and with wage earning becoming a measure of productivity, women’s work which was based within the household sphere became to be portrayed as non-productive same as the term ‘work’ itself that is dissociated from the household environment. As a result, as housework or other female house chores in the household sphere are defined as not ‘work’ as it is ‘unwaged’ automatically ‘a status or hierarchy is automatically implied.’ Research is showing that women were protagonist in the past and part of the financial affairs of the entire household thus, this dissertation will portray the fluctuating (if any) trends of Maltese women being registered in the official colonial censuses throughout the period under review. Also, it will highlight reasons why Maltese women preferred certain employment categories rather than others.