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Fordham University
SOCI 2800 Sociological Theory Fordham University
Women and Work during the Industrial Revolution
I. Breadth
The era I chose is the Industrial Revolution. I chose this era because this was a
time period where women started to get out of the household and take on outside jobs.
The Industrial Revolution occurred from the 18th to the 19th century. It was a point in our
history when we were able to break the pattern in the way we produced goods and
services at a faster pace through innovations. It began it Great Britain and had a slow
ripple effect on the rest of the world. The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning
point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Before the
Industrial Revolution, women were defined by their household roles, were legally
inferior, economically dependent on men, and were supposed to remain just at home to
care for the children. Traditionally, women had a key role in the family of raising
children and taking care of the home. Before the Industrial Revolution, women helped
out on the farms with the rest of the family. They did not have many job opportunities.
After the Industrial Revolution, women were taken away from the family to work the
same long hours and for less pay. The Industrial Revolution eventually provided women
an opportunity to work for more equal rights. With the start of the Industrial Revolution,
women would begin to fight for their roles in society, causing uprisings and movements
which would result in political unrest and eventual change.
II. Depth
The Industrial Revolution in part was fueled by the economic necessity of many
women, single and married, to find waged work outside their home. The Industrial
Revolution opened the door for new jobs for women. There were not enough men to
occupy the low pay jobs that were created. Women faced different demands during
the industrial age to those that they face today. Women of the working classes would
usually be expected to go out to work, often in the mills or mines. Women mostly
found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece workshops. For example, a
women’s job in a coal factory would include hauling coal wagons through tunnels to
the shaft, and harnessing the wagons. Most jobs were filled by the working class who
wanted a better quality of life. For many women: working conditions were often
unsanitary and the work was very dangerous. Education suffered because of the
demands of work, home life suffered as women were faced with the double burden of
factory work followed by domestic chores and child care, and men assumed
supervisory roles over women and received higher wages. Women earned less than
half of what men earned. As a result of the need for wages in the growing cash
economy, families became dependent on the wages of women and children. The
working class of women had less freedom and more restrictions because of their low
profit, poor living/working conditions, and lack of education. There was no
government help for those who needed it. The women also suffered profusely in hard
times because of low profits. As with the children and men the hours were long and
conditions were hard. Women worked 12 hours or more and were still expected to
feed and clothe their families, clean, and deal with problems such as sickness in their
home. Most women would work from 8am to 11pm in the winter, and 6am to 12am
in the summer time. Employers during the Industrial Revolution preferred to employ
women because they thought they were easier to manage than men. Factory owners
became much more inclined to hire females over males because of how much money
their enterprise would save. Many technically began to depend of female and child
laborers in order to protect their businesses from “inevitable slumps in trade”, which
clearly explains why many male workers were threatened. Women also faced the
added burden of societies demand for children. Women who filled predominantly
male job positions were seen as masculine and not adept to become wives or future
homemakers. Many women who worked in the mills and factories were looked down
upon and accused of either being too masculine or a prostitute. Laboring women in
the eighteenth century were regarded with a “tarnished image” and were often
expected to be thieves, uneducated and rude. Because they performed the occupation
of men and often labored with males, women were seen as more masculine and
vulgar. In fact, research shows that many women in the late eighteenth century would
collect chips of wood, and other materials such as cotton and wool, from shipbuildings,
and were often referred to as “chip-women”. Women were soon
considered the tangible explanation for the increase in infant mortality and decrease in
life expectancy. Factory owners and supervisors began to report many pregnant
laborers who would work up to a couple days before giving birth and would return to
work only a couple of days after. Physicians began to recommend the use of midwives
in order to offer help to pregnant mothers take care of their newborns. The
persistent death of young children under the age of seven was considered a product of
the social ills caused by women entering the labor force. Because of the large influx
of laborers from outside of urban areas, many mothers did not have reliable and
accessible family with whom to leave their children while they were at work. As a
result, the eighteenth century saw an increase in infant death rates. In hopes of
decreasing these trends the government then made many alterations in order to
establish a more sanitary drainage system in hopes it would result in a decrease in
child death rates. However, the attempt failed and death rates continued to increase;
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