At this time, industrial and societal shifts provided women with new opportunities, such as medical advances for cesarean sections, union labor strikes and protests for voting rights.
Factory work often offered higher wages than domestic service work, and was seen by families as part of their daughters' filial duties to contribute financially to the household incomes. Many states passed protective laws restricting hours worked per day or morally hazardous jobs while setting weight limits.
Working Class Women
Women working class jobs face numerous barriers, such as occupational segregation, low pay and limited career advancement opportunities. Addressing these hurdles is essential to sustained economic progress for all Americans.
The Industrial Revolution revolutionized patterns of work, family life and society; one significant transformation was in how men and women collaborated in work environments. Before industrialization, households served both socially and economically for their members - splitting labor for collective benefit. Industrialization resulted in factory-type workplaces where workers - including women as well as children - were paid on piecework basis over long hours of labor.
Factory jobs were not accessible to all; most workers who found employment were white or European immigrant women who limited by cultural norms, work availability and legal restrictions. Working class women who chose factories often did so to support their families financially - many even sent home some of their wages each payday, giving them some independence as well as purchasing consumer products like ribbons, hats and clothes for themselves and family members.
Even so, factory work was extremely arduous: female and child workers routinely toiled 16 hours or longer per day at low wages while factory owners used physical punishment as part of strict discipline to control the workforce and keep order in the factory. Such conditions caused great distress amongst workers and contributed to early trade unionization movements.
Factory work offered women in New England significant economic advantages and freedom they had not previously experienced. Most sent a significant portion of their wages back home and the extra income enabled them to gain financial power that had previously been unavailable to them.
Middle Class Women
Middle class families tended to employ women outside the home as workers who made significant contributions to household income, while also managing finances and caring for children at home - these dual responsibilities leaving little time for anything else.
Industrialization opened up vast new opportunities for many families during the first half of the 19th century. Where once families relied on farming for income, now wage work, manufacturing and trade provided multiple streams. Due to this economic shift many rural-to-urban migration occurred with Lowell seeing particularly large migration of working women who previously relied solely on village incomes for work in mills there.
Many country girls first experienced city life through working in a textile mill. Never having seen brick factories, streets lined with taverns and shops or heard machinery's loud noise before, these country girls found new experiences that challenged their ideas of life and society while earning money, travelling and taking advantage of city living lifestyles. Lowell was their gateway city where new experiences challenged their notions of society while offering greater financial gain opportunities and lifestyle advantages than they had been used to previously.
Yet their choices remained constrained by cultural norms, the nature of available work and legal regulations. For instance, many women were not allowed to leave their jobs upon marriage and only certain professional opportunities were open to them.
As women entered the middle class, they sought to emulate their more affluent peers with regards to family life and employment opportunities. Women commonly took on "respectable" jobs such as governess, music teacher or nurse - jobs which showed their neighbors and potential business partners they were educated, cultured and financially secure.
Middle class women were often not counted in labor statistics, yet their waged work was essential to the economy. When working conditions became intolerable they often attempted to organize but often lacked rights, recognition, or experience to organize effectively; furthermore their irregular work hours diminished worker solidarity and hindered union growth.
Upper Class Women
The Industrial Revolution brought with it many changes for women. Prior to its onset, most women were expected to spend their lives within the home tending gardens and making meals for family and guests. With textile mills and coal mines flourishing rapidly across Europe and North America, women from working class families began entering paid employment outside the home; many relied heavily on earnings generated by these women workers for household support purposes.
Women of the upper classes participated in an expanding range of jobs, from office work and teaching to merchandising and public relations. As technology advanced, clothing became mass produced in factories; with sewing machines and looms making clothing more affordable to middle-class families. Income earned from jobs was then used to purchase pre-made garments or fabric by yard as well as hats, shoes or other accessories from stores or merchandisers.
While the Industrial Revolution provided women with new opportunities, it also challenged traditional ideas about gender roles. With the rise of industrial unions allowing women to organize and strike for higher wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions - especially effective were women in organizing and leading strike movements like those conducted by garment worker's unions like ILGWU and ACWA; also they played an essential role in supporting other industries' expansion such as steel and automotive industries.
Hidden Figures does a remarkable job at portraying the difficulties and hardships these women faced both professionally and personally, including trying to balance demanding schedules and responsibilities with breaking barriers in their career advancement.
Katherine was deeply worried about how her hard-won successes would affect them; Katherine's journey is an example of someone unwilling to be limited by social norms or accept limitations as boundaries, an attitude which has helped women become such integral parts of society.
Servants
The Industrial Revolution saw many women leave their home and enter the workforce. Before, women and men worked alongside one another on farms or shops; now there was a stark separation between paid and unpaid labor in society, where salaried positions were valued more highly than domestic duties. Women gravitated toward factory employment for various reasons - textile jobs in particular offered a significant economic boost and offered better wages compared to domestic ones; plus factories allowed for greater flexibility and control over time spent working.
Factory workers frequently employed servants to keep machinery running smoothly by performing unskilled jobs such as threading, knotting, and sewing. Women typically predominated these occupations although men could also perform these jobs; nevertheless, these jobs were generally considered inferior to skilled roles requiring apprenticeship and years of experience.
Domestic servants were in great demand during the Industrial Revolution; however, their wages began to decrease with its progress. In 18th-century Britain it became common for both married and unmarried women to work piecework (small handmade jobs that could be delivered directly to factories) from their own homes, earning merchant owners small sums of money in return. Piecework work did not require formal education and required less physical effort than spinning or weaving; yet was difficult to yield results that brought much profit.
As well as piecework, some women also took up full-time factory jobs in places like Lowell, Massachusetts. Although their wages were higher than piecework jobs, these work environments could be harsh and dangerous; servants were sometimes employed because their fingers could operate delicate machinery more easily.
As the industrial revolution continued, several worker organizations emerged. These included the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America - two organizations dedicated to fighting for higher pay and improved working conditions - while groups like International Workers of the World and Wobblies offered support as well.
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