Labor and Women

I. THE EARLY YEARS

The history of trade union go back into the early history of America. When the Pilgrims arrived

at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they had with them three craftsmen. Unions of carpenters, cabinet

makers and cobblers formed along the Atlantic seaboard. Workers played a bigt role in

the struggle for independence in America. Their efforts in demanding higher pay and shorter

working hours by going on strike during the 18th century led to the beginning of the organized

labor movement.

From the late colonial period through the America Revolution, a woman’s work was usually

centered on the home. In Early America, the work of a wife was often along side of her husband,

running the household, farm or plantation. Cooking, making garments, spinning yarn, sewing

and mending clothes took much of her time. After the Revolution to the early 19th century, the

education of a child was put on the mother. Widows and the wives of men off fighting in the war

or on business, were often left to tend to large farms or plantations. Other women worked as

servants or slaves, helping out with household chores of other wives or substituting for the wife

if there was not one in the family.

In the 1840's and 50's, as the Industrial Revolution and factory labor began in the US, more

women went to work outside the home. By 1840 ten percent of women held jobs outside the

home and ten years later this number had risen to fifteen percent. Factory owners hired women

and children where they could because they would accept lower wages than men. Women were

preferred in jobs like sewing because they had experience in what was called “woman’s work.”

Sewing had to be done by hand because the sewing machine had not been introduced to factories

until the 1830's.

Between 1880 and 1930 an increase of industrialization, immigration and urbanization fell upon

the US. The populations of industrial cities were growing not only because of our own, but

because of the immigrants who settled here from countries like Italy, Mexico, Asia and Europe,

all looking for work in the mechanized industry. In the 1900, immigrants made up over one half

of the population in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago and Seattle. This led to

overcrowding, crime, race conflicts, unsanitary living conditions and unsafe working

inviroments. Women factory workers endured horrible working conditions. They suffered from

things like workplace injuries, migraines, fatigue and contiguous illnesses. In the New York

factories, they work 12 to 14 hour days without central heating, electricity or ventilation. There

were no protection against fire and many other hazards. In 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle

Shirtwaist Company in New York. About 150 women died when a fire broke out in one of the

upper floors of the building. Some of them burned to death while others leaped through

windows to their death. The reason so many women died is because the safety exits had

been locked to prevent a loss of goods. An investigation was conducted by Frances Perkins, the

first woman cabinet member in history and the secretary of labor, paved the way for new

industrial safety and fire prevention methods.

II. HISTORY OF WOMEN’S LABOR UNIONS

Women’s Labor Unions