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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2009
The relationship between changes in the local economy of the town and region of Colchester are explored in relation to women's employment opportunities. Economic decline and technological change in the woollen industry, as well as diminishing agricultural work for females, provided a ‘push’ factor for women to move to Colchester. In the town, urban rejuvenation meant expansion in the service sector. Yet Colchester was unable to absorb all the labouring women who moved there. Employers introduced new types of industry, characteristically by expanding from retailing to manufacture. The sweated trades produced silk, shoes and ready-made clothes. A process of re-industrialization was, then, engendered by the availability of cheap female labour.
The research on which this article is based was undertaken while I was Essex County Council Research Fellow in Local History, and an earlier version of the paper was presented to an ESRC sponsored workshop in London. The constructive comments of the editor and an anonymous referee to this journal are acknowledged. The intellectual inspiration for the research was drawn from the work of A.F.J. Brown, S. D'Cruze and A. Phillips.
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