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History 225 R2 - History of Women in America - Prof. King

Debbie Momary

2 November 2010

Women at Work 1860-1920

The two major changes that happened in this time period were industrialization and urbanization.

The rise of machines and expansion of factories changed the type of worker needed. The machines could

be operated by unskilled labor. Craftsmen were less needed in areas such as shoe making and other

manufactured goods. An unskilled operator could be taught to sue a machine and did not need to have

that trade skill that hand work had previously demanded. Machines paved a way for women to enter themanufacturing place as they came with home skills but no real manufacturing/trade skills.

Urbanization created much larger cities than had been in existence in 1860. Over this time period

the US population grew to twice its size. However, the city population grew by a factor of 64 times. This

meant there was large exodus of people from farms and rural areas to the city. Immigration also spiked

and most of those new people settled in the cities, like New York or Boston. So many people living in a

small space where factories sprang up and guaranteed a large and willing workforce was handy and

available. Women represented 10% of the workforce in 1860 but were many times that by 1920.

Most of the women in the workforce in the cities were young, 14 to 24 years old, single

and some 90% were the children of recent immigrants. The Civil War expanded the role of women.

They were deeply recruited for nursing, as the number of wounded was terribly higher than anything the

country had ever experienced. Many soldiers were also killed. This created a large contingent of widows

who needed to work in order to have money for the families. They represented another new batch of

workers. Black women were relegated to mostly the role of servants and domestics. Unlike the other

women they had almost no involvement in the unionization movements. The white women were second

class citizens compared to the men in industry. The black woman was even lower than that.

The development and the expansion of the West occurred mostly due to the Homestead Act in

1863. That act encouraged people to move west and develop the new territories. Women moved out with

their families in great numbers. Most women served in domestic capacities, homemaking and helping

work the farms and ranches. They did a lot of work but did not receive wages; per se. Women who

settled in the cities often became barmaids and prostitutes.

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Waves of immigration came to the US. The Irish settled in the east and the Scandinavians settled

in the mid-west. Eastern Europeans settled in the larger cities along the east coast. These became the

vast army of workers feeding all the many factories in the northeast. The Chinese settled in mostly the

west and many were imported into the prostitution trade.

By 1900 there were 5 million women in the workforce. That represented about 20% of all factory

workers. The typical woman worker then was white, urban and young. The bulk were greatly underpaid

compared to men and were usually unskilled. Women were often packed into factories under poor

conditions which were unsanitary and lacking in fresh air.

As the AFL was going through its early years, they and other unions wanted little to do with

women. They regarded women as a negative influence on the factory and their efforts. Women were

thought to degrade the workplace as they represented unskilled labor willing to work very cheaply.,

Women also took work away the men, which the unions said undercut their efforts. The WTUL and thestory of Chapter 9 (Shirtwaist) led a slow change that created better conditions for the woman worker.

Even later, the woman still got the low end in wages.

Protective laws were passed that helped shield the woman in the workplace. That backfired a bit

as that artificial protection limited the womens job capability. Shops did not want to deal with all the

rules and regulations, so they just decreased hiring women and relied more on better machinery to keep

levels of production up. (page 242/243)

The women started becoming the dominant worker in clerical and lower grade teaching

positions. They displaced a lot of men, and eventually became the major workers in those areas. Most of

these women were native born, I believe mostly due to their better language skills than any immigrant

class. The use of these women drove down wages. Men still did the higher grades as they had better

academic training and credentials.