The other side of the counter. Female clerks in food retail stores in the first half of the 20th century

• Applicant: Dr. Daniela Ruether
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 504145908

During the corona crisis, female clerks in the food retail sector have experienced an unprecedented level of social recognition. The role that sales staff played in the rise of today’s large and dominant supermarket chains during the 20th century has not yet been researched. In Germany, the success story of large-scale food retailing, considered to be a pioneer in the development of mass consumerism, focuses on the efficiency and profitability of this business model and ignores the elementary factor: the women behind the counter. The research project presented here aims for the first time to deconstruct the still prevailing narrative of mass-market retail. Empirical analysis of female sales staff is now possible through access to internal company sources; it is intended to generate insights not only into a more differentiated picture of the saleswoman, but also of female employment in general. In this respect, the research project contributes to the newly revived history of the world(s) of labor in Germany. The project will explore business history as gender history, using the example of the mass food retail, with a focus on the Tengelmann retail chain. It will examine gender as a primary aspect of the corporate order to cast light on the principles of gender hierarchy and the existing asymmetries affecting female sales staff. This is not only about the influence of gender relations on the organization of the company, but also on the relationship between economic transformations and gender relations. To place the specific gender-based assumptions that structured corporate policy in context, we will look at the historic discourse on female white-collar work in sales based on sources that have not yet been analyzed – in contrast to the situation of late-19th century the female factory workers.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants