American Women In The 19th Century

In the late nineteenth century women were beginning to find a place in the more public spheres of life. Larger numbers of women than ever were in paid employment; by 1874 twenty percent of females over fifteen were employed. Many

In the early 1800s, women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to restrict their area of interest to the home and the family. Women were not encouraged to have a real education or pursue a professional career. Also, women were considered unequal to their husbands and all males legally and socially. The day-to day lives of men and women were quite clearly divided during the late 1800s. Woman in the late 1800s were treated inhumane because of society, class, and their rights.

During the early period of the early 19th century, women came to the mills of their own accord, for various reasons: to help a brother pay for college, for the educational opportunities offered in Lowell, or to earn a supplementary income for themselves. While their wages were only half of what men were paid, they became free from the controlling dozens of fathers and husbands which at first seemed to be a positive experience. As a result, while factory life would soon come to be experienced as oppressive, it enabled these women to challenge assumptions of female inferiority. The young working girls endured hard work hours, low wages, and spoor living conditions. For example, their working conditions of long hours on average of at least twelve to thirteen hours per day were rigid conditions for these young women. The low wages and harsh living conditions can take a psychological toll on the women. As told in her own story, “Amelia”, a working girl who used a pen name described her opinion of factory life. She said “receives therefrom a Regulation paper, containing the rules by which she must be governed while in their employ: and lo! Here is the beginning of mischief: for in addition to the tyrannous and oppressive rules which meet her astonished eyes she finds herself compelled to remain for the space of twelve months…in fact, constituting herself a slave, a

Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink

women had to stay at home to make household goods to use in the 1700s-1800s

The male commissioners that observed the working environment came from the middle class whereas the women that gave testimonies belonged to the working class. The sexualization of women created a vision of an ideal woman. This “ideal” woman came from the middle class, wholly embodied her gender, and was a total image of domesticity. Working class women did not meet the standard of femininity that the male observers expected, leaving them horrified. This class conflict also helps to explain which accounts of work in the nineteenth stand as the most accurate

In the United States of America, there is always a power struggle. Women of the late 1800s showed men that they were here to change things up. The struggle even came from within, between the white and black women to see who would get power first. So, the struggle in late 1800s America was between the role of a man and a woman and was ultimately changing the role of a female in America, creating hundreds and hundreds of unions and associations, and finally creating many laws that were create an equal opportunity at the American dream.

In the early 1800's, many of the women in the United States were coming to realize that they wanted to obtain more rights. The male gender had way more rights than women, and they had run more things than women. Finally, women began to come forward to voice their opinions about how men and women are made to be equal; no less, no more. It was now time for women to go out and pursue whatever they wanted to pursue and not have to worry about the fact that they are females or that they are weaker or have less education than a man. The Seneca Falls Convention would soon be one of the biggest victories for women's rights.

Since the beginnings of American society, the life of a woman has fluctuated wildly. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War women still never fully had the same rights as men (not even close). But, after the American Revolution, Republican Motherhood-an ideal that put women solely in the position as mothers with the task of teaching and guiding children to instill in them the virtues of a good citizen- became very popular among middle/high class white women. Lower class and minority women weren’t able to embrace Republican Womanhood because of their roles in society. African American women were mostly slaves and lower class women of all races couldn’t provide a domestic lifestyle for their families because of their financial situations.

After the death of woman works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company became public knowledge, women were working towards receiving proper wages and expanding their employment options. By the 1920 around 25 precent of employed woman were office workers or telephone operators, 8 million woman working for wages, and one-quarter were married woman. The female work force no longer just consisted of young, single white woman. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman book Woman and Economics offered woman “evidence of a ‘spirit if personal independence’ that pointed to a coming transformation of both economic and family life. ”(Give

In the next chapters, the struggles of women and children are outlined. The jobs for women of the early 1800’s consisted of sewing, washing, cleaning, cooking, and reproducing the next generation of laborers. In , a rise in domestic service also ensued within black or white, free and enslaved women. These women were hired as servants, nannies, and maids. Children also began working as well. Orphans were often used as domestic servants and teen apprentices. The Female Association Charity School taught destitute girls who were raised on streets to read, write, cipher, sew. They were also trained to be domestic servants and then hired in the future. Women were paid much less than men, because it was thought that they were dependent of their husbands; it was unheard of to have “female breadwinners”. Factory accidents, crime, abandonment, and abuse from husbands left women desperate to support children. The wages that seamstresses had in early 17th century Baltimore was not a living wage. It was not substantial enough to support themselves or their children. So in 1833, women held strike and refused to work only worked if employers paid them wages equal that of to men. The results of the protest was not what was hoped. Women were actually paid less after the strike, but the

The female wage earners impacted the economic climate of the 1800s and caused significant change to women public activism. While, the majority of white female wage earners were unmarried and living at home. In 1890, the estimated of women wage earners were 3 quarters of women. in addition “10-15% of urban families were headed by single mothers” (297) . For white women at this time domestic work was going down and left in leu of factory labor.

As found by Gervase and Kidd, women who did have jobs often had an increased societal and domestic status and influence. (Gervase, Tati; Kidd, Rachel) This statement shows that while there still wasn’t equality between men and women in the 1930’s, women had begun on a

Paid work for women moved from principally customary female-situated employments to all the more non-conventional and already male-arranged vocations. Ladies ' support in the workforce prompted them to start careers in the field dominated by male in the 20th century. Career yearnings were affected by elements, such as sexual orientation, financial status, race, occupation and instruction level, and parental desires. This paper exhibits how women developed, changed and the challenges they faced in the 20th century in America in the workforce and the advancement of ladies ' careers, improvement and profession goals during the 20th century in United States. Also, gender issues affecting women will be discussed in details during this period and how women played their role in fighting for their rights.

Now women can get better jobs, join the military, and are treated about as equally as men. In the 19th century, women mostly stayed at home and look after the house and children. Most women were given “domestic chores”. According to the article “Women and Work in Early America”, some “domestic chores” include: cooking, cleaning, sewing, taking care of the animals around the house, and taking care of the children.