During the nineteenth-century, occupational information about women that was provided by t

heUnited States census-a population count conducted each decade-became more detailed and precisein response to social changes. Through 1840, simple enumeration by household mirrored ahome-based agricultural economy and hierarchical social order: the head of the household(presumed male or absent) was specified by name, whereas other household members were onlyindicated by the total number of persons counted in various categories, including occupationalcategories. Like farms, most enterprises were family-run, so that the census measured economicactivity as an attribute of the entire household, rather than of individuals.

The 1850 census, partly responding to antislavery and women’s rights movements, initiated thecollection of specific information about each individual in a household. Not until 1870 wasoccupational information analyzed by gender: the census superintendent reported 1.8 millionwomen employed outside the home in “gainful and reputable occupations.” In addition, hearbitrarily attributed to each family one woman “keeping house.” Overlap between the two groupswas not calculated until 1890, when the rapid entry of women into the paid labor force and socialissues arising from industrialization were causing women’s advocates and women statisticians topress for more thorough and accurate accounting of women’s occupations and wages.

The primary purpose of the passage is to______

A．explain and critique the methods used by early statisticians

B．compare and contrast a historical situation with a current-day one

C．describe and explain a historical change

D．discuss historical opposition to an established institution

E．trace the origin of a contemproary cotroversy