Women and Scottish Society, 1700-2000

This book attempts to cover all the important aspects of a woman's life in Scotland, examining how and why it changed over the last 300 years. It walks us through the day-to-day existence of Scottish women and in doing so covers areas such as family and household, education, work and politics, religion and sexuality, crime and punishment. While sensitive to the differences among women, regarding colour, class and sexuality, the book seeks to establish a close and reciprocal relationship between women's history and gender history; the first delineating the struggles of women for parity with men in economic, legal and political spheres; the second, as means of unravelling the continuing ways in which power is unequally distributed within the home, the workplace and in institutions, and in contesting the male-centred narratives of the past.

W.W.J. Knox is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of History, University of St Andrews.

Introduction 1 1 Home and Hearth: Family and Household 17 2 Home Education: Making Wives, Making Mothers 47 3 Domestic Migrants: Women and the Workplace 75 4 Deeds Not Words: Women and the Politics of Power 119 5 All About Eve: Women and Sexuality 162 6 Silent Worshippers: Women and Religion 194 7 Twisted Sisters: Crime and Punishment 217 Conclusion 247