Heilbroner points out that in the 1830s and 1840s, women were working, but they were constrained to seven professions: teaching, needlework, working as domestics, keeping boarders, setting type, and working in bookbinding and cotton factories. He goes on to say that by 1890, women were working in all but 9 of the 369 professions listed in the Census. Unfortunately, Heilbroner does not relay those 9 professions (at least not in the edition I have). I decided to dig through the 1890 Census data myself and find that information. Here are the jobs listed in the 1890 Census with no female workers:

1. Officers of United States army and navy
2. Soldiers, sailors, and marines (United States)
3. Apprentices (leather curriers, etc.)

As you can plainly see, that’s only 3 professions! Unless you somehow split those professions out a bit (for example, you could count soldiers, sailors, and marines as 3 professions), this doesn’t fit at all. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for you. I’m not a professional researcher, so I don’t know what I’m missing in this process. If you’ve got some good information on the subject, please leave a comment.

Image from Museo24 – Women as factory workers.