Hard Choices

In Kathleen Gerson's book, "Hard Choices", she answers some questions of how women decide to work or take care of family obligations, and how the "revolution" of women in the 60's and 70's effected things. She does this by interviewing a select group of middle and working-class women who were young adults in the 1970's. Their life histories are interesting and inform us how we are forced to make the choices that we make today.

Source:

Gerson, Kathleen. Hard Choices: How Women Decide About Work, Career, and Motherhood. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986.

Poem

I stand here now, still at the kitchen sink

the belly of my dress wet and stinking

this running faucet of words

running out of my mouth,the choking generations of daughters

spitting both privilege and bitterness

from their mothers' broken cups.

— Jacqueline St. Joan (1945-; American judge, attorney, poet, activist, women's rights), Ms. (New York)

Women Working During WWII

"We Can Do It!" by J. Howard Miller produced for the War Production Co-Ordinating Committee.

World War II had a huge impact on the number of women who worked outside the home. They were not only motivated by patriotism for their country, and money, but also a sense of community that they gained. With the work that they did, they proved that they were able to do many of the same tasks as men. Without their labors, the economy of the United States would not have been able to with stand the huge need of military hardware for the war.

After the war was over, most women lost their jobs and returned either to their low-paying jobs, or back to their position of being a housewife. However, their seed had been planted during the war, and the possibility of paid income outside the household now existed for women.

"Women hadn't hit the glass ceiling yet.- They were just entering the ground floor."

• Photos & Info:

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0135.html

http://www.archives.gov/education/history-day/bright-ideas/images/cant-win-poster.gif

Women in the Work Force: Interesting Statistics

From 1950 to 1999, the increase in the percentage of women among the work force has been overwhelming:

• US architects nearly quadrupled, to 16%
  
• The percentage of women economists nearly tripled, to 51%
  
• The share of women pharmacists increased sixfold, to 49%
  
• The number of women lawyers went up sevenfold, to 29%
  
• Women now comprise 50% of all journalists, up from 38% in 1950

(Business Week Online, February 2000)

• 41% of working women head their own households _ they are single, divorced, separated or widowed and 28% of them have dependent children. (AFL-CIO)
• Labor force participation for women continues to be highest among those in the 35-44 age group.

(Women's Bureau of US Department of Labor)

http://www.roadandtravel.com/businessandcareer/careers/womenworkers.htm

The Women's Trade Union League

The Women's Trade Union League was formed in 1903. It was not a traditional union, but and organization that linked upper and middle class reformers with union women in trying to improve the conditions of working class women. The WTUL and the Socialist Party supported a failed attempt to organize the "shirtwaist" industry, that lead the the first, massive, mostly women (80% of strike participants) strike in 1909-1910.

The organizing attempt failed because the male dominated unions that initially supported the strike withdrew their support when strikers continued to insist on getting all of their demands. Also, there were ethnic divisions and a varying degree of militancy among the strikers. Other attempts to organize women workers, including the corset maker in Kalamazoo and the textile workers in Lawrence, occurred in the 1900's. These organizations were supported by the WTUL and other reform-minded organizations, as well, as some degree of support by man unions.



Women continued to prove themselves to be faithful and militant union members.




Organized or not, women have been an increasingly important part of the work force since the early days of industrialization. Yet, some narrow minded, primarily male historians continue to discount women as workers. And, by doing that, they ignore important and interesting facts of labor history.





Sources:

America's Working Women, "The Shirtwaist Uprising". pg. 170-171, "Ethnic Unity". pg 177-183


Mason, Karen M. "Feeling the Pinch: The Kalamazoo Corsetmakers' Strike of 1912, " To Toil the Livelong Day



Photos:
http://msit.gsu.edu/dhr/pullen/images/34strike/stkpic10.jpg

Working Women: Strong Unions

In some settings, women were able to form strong unions with the support of men. An example were the collar makers of Troy, New York. The city of Troy had two major industries: collar making and iron works. Women were generally employed in the collar making industry, while their husbands, brothers and fathers worked in the iron industry. Because of these working patterns, women were not considered a threat to the male union workers. The iron industry was unionized and the iron tradition was in the families of many of the collar workers. Collar workers had strong networks of friends, family, and co-workers, and many women of various ages and marital statuses became active in the union.




In 1881, the Knights of Labor began to recruit women, and in 1886 hired Lenora Barry as the first full time organizer. Yet, even she believed that men were meant to be the "breadwinner" and women should not have to work for wages, but the realities of the industrial age forced women to work, and these women's' lots would be improved by organizing.





Most locals of the American Federation of Labor refused to accept female members. But, in 1892, under pressure from women, they half-heartily hired Mary E. Kenny as an organizer. Between 1903 and 1923, there was a large increase in the number of working women, however, the AFL did not take the golden opportunity to unionize these women because the male leadership still had the view that a women's place was in the home, and organized women primarily when it was a benefit to male members.



Sources:


Blewett, Mary H. "The Sexual Division of Labor and the Artisan Tradition in Early Industrial Capitalism: The Case of New England Shoemaking, 1780-1860". To Toil the Livelong Day. pg 35-46


America's Working Women. "Union Organizing". pg 98-99, "The AFL View". pg 162-163.


Photos:http://www.teachersparadise.com/ency/en/media/a/a7/kollarge.jpeg, http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~cwalton/USHistory/AFL.jpg

Union Women

Women did not organize into unions in as great numbers as men, but some women did get involved in labor struggles. As early as 1828, women who worked in cotton mills in Dover, New Hampshire went on strike or "turn-outs" for better working conditions.

The male dominated trade unions were openly against organizing women. They believed that women were a threat to their jobs, because they were willing to work for lower wages than men. They also believed that women working eroded the family structure. Unions like the National Typographical Union actively tried to keep women out of their trade, though women had worked as printers since colonial times.

Women's rights movements developed from the anti-slavery movement, and was, at first, mainly interested in allowing women to have access to higher education and the professions. However, some activists such as Caroline Dall, wrote about emancipation of working class women. In her book, Women's Right to Labor, she addresses the myths of women as being weak, and stresses that women should be better paid for their labor.

In 1860, in Lynn, Massachusetts, lower wages in the shoe making industry caused labor unrest. Clara Brown, a 21 year old factory worker attempted to form an alliance between the factory shoe binders and the women homeworkers by trying to get more wages and better working conditions for both groups. However, the homeworkers aligned themselves with the men, who saw their shoe-making jobs as an artisan tradition, and considered the women factory workers as a threat to their jobs and the tradition. The male labor leaders failed to see the inevitably of industrialization and did not realize that allying themselves with the female factory workers could help their cause. They continued to cling to the notion that the woman's only place we in the home. The alienated women workers did not join the strike, and the strike failed.

Sources:

America's Working Women, "Women's Strikes". pg 68-69, "Union Men Against Women Workers". pg 77-78, "A Feminist View". pg 78-79

Photo:http://www.ourwardfamily.com/1800s/SPINNING_ROOM__COTTON_MILL.JPG

Women and Labor History: Entering the Paid Workforce

By the late 1800's women began to enter the paid workforce in increasing numbers, for a variety of reasons. Some went to work so they would have their own money, others had no male support, and had no choice but to get a job. Since there were little opportunities for work in rural areas, many moved to the growing industrialized cities, where work was available. In the late 1800's, there were more women leaving the country sides to find jobs in the city, than men were.

People assumed that all women had a male supporting them, so because of this myth, women were expected to work for much lower wages than men. Many women had to support not only themselves, but a family as well, on her very low wages.
Some women worked for just a short period of time before they married. However, many women worked for an extended period of time. Also, many left and reentered the workforce a number of times during their lifetime. These women would quit work when they got married, then return to work later to supplement their husband's income. Some women would quit to have a baby, or to nurse a sick relative and return to work when they could. At the same time, some women never married and worked for wages all their lives.

"Women belong in the house... and the Senate." ~Author Unknown

Sources:

Meyerowitz, Joanne. Women Adrift: Independent Wage Earners in Chicago, 1880-1930. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.


Groneman, Carol, and Mary-Beth Norton. To Toil the Livelong Day : America's Women at Work 1780-1980. 1st Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1989

"Beyond Conventional Wisdom: Women's Wage Work, Household Economic Contribution, and Labor Activism in a Mid-Nineteenth-Century Working-Class Community" by Carole Turbin.

Photo: http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/images/females/photo08.jpg

Women and Labor History : The Colonial Period

Women have always done "real work". And, although they have not always worked for wages or organized into unions in great numbers like men, they have played an important role in Labor History, and should not be ignored.

During the colonial period, before large scale industrialization, when most people lived on farms, women worked with their husbands and families in relatively self-sufficient households. There was a sexual division of labor, with women as the "keepers of the home". Men and women both helped to provide for the family, however, women were still subordinate and their economic importance did not translate into political power.

As towns and cities grew, people were no longer in the position to produce everything they needed, and the importance and dependence on the marketplace grew. Advancements in transportation helped the market economy grow by increasing access to markets. Advancements in technology and new ways of organizing production allowed goods to be bought at lower prices than it would cost to produce them at home. Although the basic responsibilities of the homemaker remained the same, the ways that she provided for her family depended increasingly on items that she bought. She still produced items at home, but money became more important.

A class of landless working people began to emerge. Landless sons and immigrants began to fill the cities and got jobs trying to support their families. Working men became the "bread winners". Women continued to cook and sew, much as they did in the colonial times. Ideally, women's place was in the home, while the male head of the family worked outside the home for wages. However, this ideal was far from reality. - Many poor and working class women were forced to survive by whatever means possible. Poor women had to scavenge and steal, take work such as washing, sewing or domestic worker to supplement their husband's income. Middle-class women supplemented their husband's income by being good shoppers - being able to spot a bargain and understand quality of goods - they also did things such as sewing and mending the family's clothes and other household tasks. But, since they did not get paid for these things, they were not considered 'work.'


Wives were discouraged from working outside the home for wages. The ideology of the time dictated that the women's place was inside the home, and she had a God-given duty to take care of her husband and family. Working for wages outside the home disturbed the natural balance and threatened the generally accepted ideals of womanhood as well as men's' own ideals of masculinity and as protector and provider.


Sources:
Boydston, Jeanne. Home & Work: Housework, Wages, and the Ideology of Labor in the Early Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. (29)

America's Working Women, Ed. Baxandall, Rosalyn and Linda Gordon. "Shall Married Women Work?". Pg. 94-95.