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Machine-breaking was a recurrent form of violence in England and France at the beginning of the industrial era. Historians have mainly depicted this kind of protest as a male practice, suggesting the dominance of a masculine conception of social relations and labor disputes. Yet, far from being marginal or invisible, women were well represented in these conflicts, not only as auxiliaries to men but also as participants, combatting the machines that affected their domestic production and their lifestyle. In considering the gender of machine-breaking, the aim of this paper is twofold: first, to study how machines reconstruct work in gendered terms, with significant differences across sectors and regions; secondly, it seeks to examine how gender identities shaped popular protests at the start of the industrial age.