Women's Roles During The Industrial Revolution

In the 18th century began a great movement called the Industrial Revolution. While the Industrial Revolution was a great turning point in the history of mankind, it had both positive and negative effects. The Industrial Revolution led our civilization to great technological advancements as well as great losses. During the Industrial Revolutions, many inventions were made.

During the early 1800’s women's roles still haven't changed from the 1600’s .They weren't legal citizens which meant they couldn't inherit money or land. However, there were some women that had jobs outside the home as well, mostly with the onset of industrialisation. Sometimes

Following the Market Revolution the ideals of American Womanhood were reinterpreted due to many social reforms, abolitions movements, and the fight for political equality. Many social reforms took place between the American Revolution and the Civil War. The Market Revolution led to many of the social changes for women at this time. Both men and mostly single women began to find work outside of their family farms. Young girls would often find work at Lowell factories.

To start off women played an important role in the revolution while the men fought at war. Women took jobs like shipbuilding, blacksmiths, carpentry, or weavers. Others transformed homes into hospitals for the wounded, and some sewed uniforms and stockings for the soldiers. One woman who dared to join the army was Deborah Sampson.

The Industrial Revolution was a time of reform that refers to a phenomenon . Revolution usually means the change to get rid of the old authority and a whole change of things in society. Henceforth, the Industrial Revolution was a revolution or a transformation of the idea about the industry. Eminently, the most revolutionary aspect of the Industrial Revolution was the idea of mechanization. From the aspect of mechanization, it transformed the lives of people in the labor force, and how people lived during this time period.

By the early 1800’s America began transitioning from an agriculture based economy to industrial production. After Thomas Jefferson's’ Embargo Act of 1807 that cut off all exports from the United States, domestic production boomed. Americans were forced to depend solely on themselves, developing economic independence. Inventions such as Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and railroads lead to industrial production and textiles. By 1815 there were hundreds of textile mills, spurring the growth of the Lowell factory system.

as they did not gain or keep the access to the professionals nor did they come close to earning equal pay for the same type of work if they continued to hold their jobs after the men returned. Because of the frustrations held by these women, it the led to the start of feminist movements. The late 1950s and 60s became years of change for women with people becoming more vocal about equal rights for women. This led to President Kennedy, in 1961, establishing the Commission on the Status of Women which examined issues relating to women because of the growing interest in women’s rights (Sink).

The Gradual Unbinding of Revolutionary Women Women back in the 17th to 18th century were labeled insignificant and served no major roles in any life-changing events. The fate for most of the women, was being confined in their own living spaces- left to prioritize housework duties such as cooking and cleaning. The etiquette of women was subjected to remain obedient to men. The inferiority of women forced imposition of loyalty and obedience towards men; the respect to women remained unrecognized in society. Preluding to the beginning of the 18th century, before the American Revolution arose, the position of a woman was strictly only to maintain household orders and comply towards the necessities of men.

Before the the industrial revolution work and family were basically the same thing. Work was based around home and the family life. After the revolution began families were taken out of the home and put into factories for mass production of goods and services. Families were split because of the demands of the factories. To maximize production hours were lengthened to meet requirements.

Before it truly began, men and women were working inside of their household. When it started, women were put into factories and it changed their whole lifestyle. They were used to working in their house, cooking and cleaning and taking care of everyone. Women were always seen as less powerful than men which just enabled factory owners to take advantage from the start. They were used to doing jobs from the demands of others.

Before WWI, women were restricted to traditionally feminine jobs. Their work was considered inferior and they were paid less than men. However, once WWI began, women were able to integrate themselves into a variety of different workforces. Since most men were off to serve in the military and navy, women that stayed behind replaced their positions in factories and other industries. Other women worked closely with the military as nurses or even soldiers.

The only job that women were allowed to do was to help their husbands in their farms. But that all had changed when the United States went into wars and men had to go fight for the country. Women began to occupy a few jobs like working in munition factories or becoming the angels of mercy and working as nurses to relieve the soldiers’ pain. That was the starting point for women to begin demanding to work like men. Although occupied few jobs for very low pay, women were still not considered a part of the work force and they did not have any formal workplace rights and usually faced discrimination and unfair treatment from the other gender.

Child labor was a great problem in the Industrial Revolution. Factory owners usually hired women and children rather than men. They said that men expected higher wages, and they suspected that they were more likely to rebel against the company. Women and children were forced to work from six in the morning to seven at night, and this was when they were not so busy. They were forced to arrive on time and they couldn’t fall behind with their work because if they did they were whipped and punished.

Even after the war, women were urged to stay at home to take care of the children. On the other hand, males would deal with financial businesses to keep their family out of poverty. These gender roles were embedded

Women. Women’s involvement in the working world have contributed to many items that would be missing from the world today; if they had not been allowed to work.. Women have struggled with sexism in the workplace since before they were even given the chance to try to work. They were taught from a young age that their job was to provide children, cook, and clean for their husbands, while the husband worked and provided the money. What men did not know however was that women were capable of so much more(Jewell, Hannah).