Glass Ceiling Thesis

For one, since women were seen as the property of men and as dependent beings, working was not something they would usually do. Thus, working in mills was already something different. However, working in the textile mills were tough. They worked in harsh conditions, in which they worked long hours and had low pay. According to Vera Shlackman, “all the learning I now have gained without instruction, having obtained alone and that too I have labored twelve hours a day”(59), this shows how long they worked for in the mills each day, twelve hours a day. This also shows how despite the fact the mills state that “women working in Lowell’s mills, moreover, could avail themselves of certain education services”(Schug et al. 147), they kept the mill girl’s education at a certain level, in which Vera Shlakman had to resort in teaching herself. To add on, the mill girls had low pay. According to Mark C. Schug, Jean Caldwell, and Tawni Hunt, “the weekly wage for young women in Lowell’s mills was $2.50, of which $1.25 was deducted to pay for room and board. This amounted to pay of less than four cents per hour”(147), showing how low their pay was and how little choices they had, to the point they stayed in these mills. This brings us to the second change. According to the text, these working women were starting to lead industrial strikes. “They walked off their jobs in the the textile

Many women of the early 1900’s wanted to be treated fairly and equally to their male counterparts. For a long time, it was not even socially acceptable for a woman to work. As a woman’s job in society started involving be part of the work force, many

John Adams claimed that children and apprentices grew disobedient, schools and colleges became restless, Indians ignored elders, slaves grew disrespectful, and women grew discontent. All of these groups have no voice and unequal treatment in common. A connection is that women could not vote until relatively recently. That was man’s claim on control of how things were run. I honestly am appalled at what came out of his response as far as ,”subjection to the unfair rule of women.” Hypocrisy at its finest there because how do you think the women felt about subjection to the Despotism of the egotisticals? Yeah, probably not that great.

Woman along with the children were affected while working during the industrial revolution. During 1834 and 1836 Harriet Martineau, a British feminist and abolitionist, visited America and enthusiastically embraced the social implications of the Industrial Revolution, (DTA, 223). Martineau compared the lifestyle of women to slaves and said the United States contradicted the principles of the Declaration of Independence. She did believe though with some progress that it could become New England’s new industrial order. One of the Mill factories Martineau visited, Waltham Mill, was a prime example of the scheduled lifestyle of women mill workers. Women Mill workers of all ages worked at Waltham Mill, which I compared to a boarding school because of their strict schedules. The ladies had a time to wake up, to be at work, to eat, and to go to school. A lot of women did not mind the harsh conditions they lived and worked in because they fought for their equality of rights for a long time now.

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

In Abigail Adam's letter “Last Act of Defiance,” Mrs. Adams challenged the concept of individual rights by standing up against the social actions women were not allowed to do. At this time in history women, did not have the same rights as men, yet Mrs. Adams was not afraid to rise up and speak about laws where women did not have a voice in. It states in the “Last Act of Defiance,” “... she did not simply complain about the government's denial of married women's property rights. She defied.” Abigail Adams openly challenged individual rights because even though women had no political say and she knew that most people wouldn't listen to her, she had the courage to speak up. She refused the government's laws and strictly oppose the government

With the center of production moving from households to mass-production, women in America had to alter their way of life. A great number of women followed labor opportunities to the mills, factories, and workshops. For the first time in history, large numbers of women left their homes to participate in the public world. “Mill Girls” were typically young, unmarried women who lived together in boarding houses provided by the factory for which they worked. Lucy Larcom recalls,

In document 7 it said, “...in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.” This document clearly indicates that before 1776 and even in that time period women did not have rights at all, and that is exactly what Abigail Adams asks John Adams in the letter. The idea that “unlimited power” was going into the husbands hand could not be suffered by women; that is what led to women's rights movements throughout United States. While the rights gained for women was one of the radical change, there were various

The industrial revolution swept through Europe and North America during the 19th century, affecting the class structure, economy, government, and even the religious practices of everyone who lived in or did commerce with these new "industrialized nations." It made the modern age possible, but it was not without its "growing pains." The position of women before the industrial revolution was often equivalent to chattel, and then as now, they were expected to take naturally to housework and child rearing. The history of working women in the Industrial Revolution is rife with accounts of abuse and tragedy, but overall it improved their position in capitalist societies. Below, I will explain the

Abigail Adams was one of the first woman's rights activists. She wrote letters to her husband John Adams, reminding him to “Remember the ladies.” In her letters she asked her her husband John to stop assigning such power to men, and more power to the women. She spoke of the organization of an all women rebellion that none of the women were afraid to follow through with. Also, they would not abide by the laws, for there was no representation for women in any of them anyways. Some of her neighbors were also on board, and were completely cooperative with Abigails ideas. She definitely took womens rights very seriously and she also proved it. John Adams recognized her dedication on the topic. Although he somewhat agreed, he said that the laws are stable and if they changed anything they’d contradict the rules

A chart illustrating the Occupations of Women Wage Earners in Massachusetts in 1837 shows that nearly half of the women wage earners were in the hat business. While the hat business isn’t one of high skill, it was new for women to be wage earners at all. The emergence of factories (such as Lowell) created a new demand for workers that men alone couldn’t fulfill. A Letter written by a factory worker around the same time as the chart tells Ms. Edward’s story about her job. She is very happy with her life and tells the recipient of the letter that she enjoys boarding with a family, regardless of how “factory girls” are seen by the public.

The “Glass Ceiling” is known as an invisible barrier that stops someone from gaining more success. In this case it deals with women in the workplace, not being able to move up in a company. Even though no one knows who started the phrase, “A widely read Wall Street Journal story in 1986 popularized the term”(Napikoski). The “Glass Ceiling” has played a big role in women not being able to be

“I shall not stay here… Up before day, at the clang of a bell and out the mill by the bell - just as though we were so many living machines” (Hopkinson 37). Many girls, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, worked at textile mills during the Industrial Revolution for eleven to twelve hours a day, with little time to catch their breath and fresh air. The Industrial Revolution started in Europe in the eighteenth century and spread to America during the nineteenth century. Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts and mass production helped lead the American Industrial Revolution, which started after the War of 1812 and peaked during the 1870’s. During this time period, many factories, mills, and factory cities were constructed, one of which was Lowell, Massachusetts, and employed women because their salaries were lower and therefore cost less. The conditions of the mills and boarding houses that the girls lived in were unpleasant and crowded, and they could easily become ill. Eventually, after the height of the Industrial Revolution, women fought for their rights and better conditions in their workplaces. The Industrial Revolution changed women’s roles in society, as it made jobs that were filled by girls, put them in challenging settings, and united them to work for change in the workforce.

The “Glass Ceiling” is the term giving to the invisible obstacles sometimes found in the workforce. The barriers that limit women’s and minorities progress toward employment equity extend from the glass ceiling at the top of corporations to the floor of low paying jobs in the labor market. These barriers are created by a process at exclusion that continuously eliminates women, minorities, and other underprivileged groups from being candidates of higher positions. When a company exercises this type of discrimination, they look for the most defensible explanation they can find to make this behavior seem acceptable. The “glass ceiling” is still very much a part of the corporate world today as it was many years ago. This is evident by the

The glass ceiling starts to form itself very early on. From the moment a woman enters the work force after college, she is faced with much discrimination and unjust belief that she will not be able to do as well of a job than a man. A man and a woman, who both have the same education and training for a job, will have a considerable gap in their yearly income. In a first year job, a man will make approximately $14,619 compared to a woman who will make only $12,201. That is a pay gap of 17%(Gender Pay 1). There is no reason why there should be any gap in their incomes during the first year of their jobs. They have both had the same formal education and both have the same qualifications necessary for the job, yet