Working Women in 19th Century

In the eighteenth and for most of the nineteenth century, women’s labor primarily consisted of domestic labor with the home representing the center of production. This was also true because of the primarily agricultural nature of the United States during these centuries. During the nineteenth century, the rise of capitalism dramatically changed this scenario because with the rise of capitalism also came the rise of mercantilism, industrialization, and a cash-based economy. Also during this economic revolution came another shift. The domestic unit would less and less represent the center of production as the public workplace did more and more. This separation had a major impact on women. Their domestic work began to be devalued, and, since men primarily had control of the public workplace it also increased their economic dependence on men. Further, the rise of a family-wage economy as opposed to a family-based economy also transformed the family and women’s roles within it. Another separation that existed in the period from 1830-1860 was the primarily agrarian economy of the south (cotton and other crops) as opposed to the increasingly industrial nature of the north (textiles and other manufacturing). Thus, many working class women who assumed public work in the north were employed by textile mills,

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many issues of it were devoted to arguing against many of the criticisms leveled at factory conditions. For example, in on issue that carried an interview between a mill worker and a journalist, the journalists likened the conditions at the factory, including the summoning of workers with a bell, as tantamount to slavery. The mill worker vigorously denies these charges, “In almost all kinds of employment it is necessary to keep regular hours: more particularly so where there are so many connected as in the factories. Because we are reminded of those hours by the ringing of a bell, it is no argument against our employment, any more than it would be against going to church or school. Our engagements are voluntarily entered into with our employers, with the understanding that they may be dissolved at our pleasure. However derogatory to our dignity and liberty you may consider factory labor, there is not a tinge of slavery in it” (The Utopian 1). Lucy Larcom was an interesting mill worker who was also a teacher, magazine editor and author. One of ten children, Lucy took to working in the mills to help the family with expenses, as did two of her sisters and many other women for similar reasons. Her father had died when she w
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2796
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)