A surprising and fascinating historical analysis in The Conversation by historian Hannah Forsyth.  Hannah affirms that women have always worked. Work performed by both men and women once took place at or near the family home. In the early 20^th Century there were women professionals in almost all fields, although women dominated in areas that drew on women’s traditional authority over what an older middle class defined as the “domestic sphere”. Gradually, as work industrialised, it moved away from the home and into spaces dedicated to work. This occurred earlier for men than for women, which is the process that created a separate sphere, and left women in it.