WOMEN IN INDUSTRY






<PRE>
          General Historical Information Prior to 1900

   In primitive society men were fishers, fighters, hunters, while women
fashioned the hut, gathered and stored the seeds, roots, and fruits, tamed
young animals, prepared the meat and skins from the animals slain by men,
and made garments and utensils. When the pastoral stage followed immediately
on the hunting stage, women's former varied activities were narrowed until
only certain duties--those of indoor life and preparing products for home
use--remained. Woman was looked upon as the rearer of children, the minister
to men's comfort and pleasure, and the producer of domestic necessities, and
was made economically dependent. It is of special interest that among savage
tribes where women were as efficient food producers as men they held
respected positions.
   Woman's work through historic times has, however, been dependent upon the
class to which she belonged.  The principal wives of chiefs were the first
to be relieved of all labor. The middle class show more clearly the changes
of the centuries. In the lowest class even in the twentieth century, among
barbarians as well as among European peasants, women undertake heavy manual
labor. As long as a large portion of necessary articles were made by men in
the homes or on a a small scale, women supplemented household duties by
aiding in weaving, sewing, and dairying. The factory system and the
improvements of the nineteenth century have changed the household from a
centre of production to one merely for consumption. These changes have had a
momentous effect on woman's economic position. Women have now two important
economic functions in the industrial world: (1) as buyers and (2) as
producers. The invasion of the domestic sphere by factory-made products has
made every woman a buyer. The importance of this function has only recently
been recognized. Many women have also entered the field of production, and
their number continues to increase. In 1835 only seven industries were open
to women besides domestic service in the United States. The census of 1900
makes a return of 303 separate occupations, in only eight of which are there
no women workers.
   The introduction of machinery created a demand for the cheap labor of
women. In 1816 there were 66,000 women spinning: in 1860, 65 per cent. of
those employed in textile work were women. American and English women of the
lower classes, both married and unmarried, entered factories. A large number
filled positions as domestic servants, more servants being required as the
country grew richer. This work soon fell into the hands of
foreigners---Irish, Germans, Swedes, who in turn filled the factories. The
steps have been from the kitchen to the factory, and then to shops. Women of
the middle class were also forced into industrial life. The rising standard
of living made it impossible for men to support so many idle women; the same
reason made the prospect of marriage uncertain, especially in England and
Eastern America, where women are in excess; and above all, by the new
methods, women at home were deprived of their occupations. These women
became dressmakers, teachers, and clerks. The Civil War was an important
agent in determining the future of many women, as it left them dependent
upon themselves. Among the well-to-do one class,  stimulated by the spirit
of the age, has made demands to enter business and the professions. From
these women arose the cry for equal rights, equal education, and equal
opportunities. The members of the other class, as the result of freedom from
labor, have either become economic parasites, or they are using their
freedom to improve social conditions.
   Prejudice has met the efforts of women to enter the professions and
higher positions, but the development of business from 1880 to 1900 has
opened many positions in the clerical forces necessary for large
establishments. The extension of the factory system to food, clothing, and
laundry has increased the demand for women workers.
   The extent to which women are employed in productive pursuits is shown by
the census of 1900, when there were 5,329,807 engaged in gainful occupations
( to 23,956,115 males), distributed as follows:  2,099,165 in domestic
service;  980,025 in agriculture, of whom 665,791 are agricultural laborers;
1,315,890 in manufacture; 503,574 in trade and transportation;  and 431,153
in the professions. There were 344,948 dressmakers;  335,711 laundresses;
277,972 textile workers;  149,256 saleswomen;  86,158 stenographers;  34,132
retail dealers;  74,186 bookkeepers and accountants;  85,269 clerks; and
22,556 telephone and telegraph operators. In higher positions were found 253
bankers;  45 brokers;  1271 officers of banks;  2883 manufacturers and
officials of companies;  153 builders and contractors; and 261 wholesale
dealers. Some of the unusual employments of women were; 154 boatmen and
sailors;  879 watchmen, policemen, and detectives;  85 bootblacks;  1320
hunters; 2 motormen;  13 street car conductors;  31 brakemen;  7 steam car
conductors;  2 roofers;  126 plumbers;  45 plasterers;  167 brick and stone
masons;  241 paper hangers;  1759 painters;  545 carpenters;  41 mechanics;
193 blacksmiths; 571 machinists;  3370 workers in iron and steel;  800 brass
workers;  1775 workers in tin;  100 lumbermen;  113 wood-choppers;  373
sawmill employees;  440 bartenders;  2086 saloon-keepers;  906 draymen;  324
undertakers;  177 stationary engineers and firemen;  1947 stock-raisers;
409 electricians;  84 civil engineers;  3 mining engineers;  11 surveyors;
248 chemists;  21 stevedores;  78 longshoremen;  and 5582 barbers.
   The objections to women in industrial life are: (1) Theoretical--the
proper place for a woman is in a home, supported by a man: (2) their
willingness to accept low pay; (3) the bad conditions under which they are
frequently forced to work with the resulting injury to health; (4) injury to
morals, from working with men, subordination to men, and temptations
accompanying freedom; (5) competition with men, depriving men of their
occupations, lessening their respect for women, and frequently making them
dependent upon women; and (6) demoralization of the home when married women
with young children are employed.  The advantages urged are the training
resulting from industrial life under social rather than personal relations;
the development of technical skill and the utilization of special abilities;
the breadth of view obtained from contact with men; the moral training of
self-support; and the importance of economic independence. Among the reasons
for woman's low wages are: her position as a new economic factor; her low
standard of living; her frequent partial support; the insufficiency of her
equipment, often due to the expectation of marriage; the restricted field of
employment and the exclusion from gainful occupations; her anomalous
political position; her lack of trade organization; protective factory
legislation, limiting her when in competition with men; her loss of time
through illness; and her traditional inferiority.
   In England and on the Continent many women are employed in factories,
domestic service, low grade teaching positions, and low-paid Government
positions in the post-office, telegraph offices, and as clerks. In England
and Belgium agricultural courses are being provided. In Austria and other
parts of Europe many women are day laborers. In France women assist their
husbands and many have been successful in commerce. In Germany and Denmark
women are being organized.
   Congresses have been held to consider women's work.

Bibliography:    Mason, Woman's Share in Primitive Industry (New York,
1900); Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Classes (New York, 1899); Stetson,
Women and Economics (New York, 1898); Campbell, Women Wage Earners'
Bibliography (Boston, 1893); Eleventh Annual Report of the United States
Commissioner of Labor; Massachusetts Labor Bulletins; International Congress
of Women (1899); "Women in Industrial Life, " Chautauquan (October, 1897);
Political Science Quarterly,  xv; Economic Journal, i. England: Reports of
Royal Commissions (1832, 1863) ; Collet, Educated Working Women (London,
119020.


Source:    The New International Encyclopaedia
Publisher:  Dodd, Mead and Company--New York
Copyright:  1902-1905   Total of 21 Volumes
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                  Transcribed by Miriam Medina.
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