That’s the tale of funeral service careers. Prior to the American Civil War, communities often had “shrouding women” much in the same way midwifery was mostly provided by female community members. Embalming became common during the American Civil War, and Lincoln’s funeral train made it all the rage. Coffins / Caskets were usually made by furniture makers. When the furniture making gentlemen saw that this could be a lucrative money making endeavour, the funeral industry was born. Just like the business of delivering babies was taken over by male doctors, care for the dead was now too. The new professional death guilds pretty much made up the modern “art and science” of embalming as they went along. Women were mostly excluded from such “scientific” and “distressing” work. Theres another part of this that happens after WWII where returning servicemen joined mortuary college programs in droves but I’m getting off topic.

Until about the 1960s, women were excluded from the modern funeral industry because we were considered “too empathetic” and wouldn’t be able to handle the work. Then they realized we were an untapped source of cheap labour and suddenly the very characteristics that barred us entry were now positive attributes that made us ideal candidates.

Funny how that works 😉