The five-day working week

In the Western world, a five-day working week has been the norm for less than a century.

• The Reformation carved out Sunday as a holy day in Europe.
• 19th-century bosses started granting a half-day holiday on Saturdays.
• Industrialists such as Henry Ford pioneered the 40-hour working week in the early 20th century.
• In France, the Matignon Agreements of 1936 put the 40-hour week into law.
• In 1940, America mandated two full days of freedom.
• China's Communist Party only allowed workers to shift to five working days in 1995.
• In 2000, the French government reduced the full-time worker's week to 35 hours.