Affect+on+Families+and+Roles+of+Women

By A.J. Ranzato, Julia Castle, Talia Brecher, and Greg Dgheim ​​​​Families of the Industrial Revolution

During the age of the Industrial Revolution, fathers, mothers, and children worked to share their profits and sometimes even worked together in factories. Whether engaged in agriculture, domestic manufacturing, or commerce, family members all contributed in the welfare of the greater group. This reshaped family life by introducing a distinct seperation between work and family life. Those who worked in families would leave the home for factories and would work, sometimes, up to fourteen hours. This caused families to lead increasingly seperating lives.

Role of Women in the Industrial Revolution

Female employment from the 1850's-1870's was higher then any other time until after World War II. About 30-40% of women from working class families contributed



IMPORTANT : The pursuit of money and rapid industrialization led to the innevitable fall of the classic family unit. Families rarely worked together to provide for themselves any more and family members would split among jobs and job locations. Also, as more families came into contact with each other, this further separated the family unit.

The Industrial Revolution in part was fueled by the economic necessity of many women, single and married, to find waged work outside their home. Women mostly found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece work shops. They also worked in the coal mines. For some, the Industrial Revolution provided independent wages, mobility and a better standard of living. For the majority, however, factory work in the early years of the 19th century resulted in a life of hardship.

AGAIN, IMPORTANT: ** Education suffered because of the demands of work. **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] Working conditions were often unsanitary and the work dangerous. **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] Home life suffered as women were faced with the double burden of factory work followed by domestic chores and child care. **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] Men assumed supervisory roles over women and received higher wages. **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] Unsupervised young women away from home generated societal fears over their fate. **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] As a result of the need for wages in the growing cash economy, families became dependent on the wages of women and children **
 * [[image:http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/bullet6.gif width="4" height="8" align="bottom"]] There was some worker opposition to proposals that child and female labor should be abolished from certain jobs. **



After the Industrial Revolution, the family unit viewed itself entirely differently than it had in previous times. For one thing it changed in terms of gender roles, and roles of generations. Young people for example were encouraged to not follow in their parents and relatives footsteps, but rather they were encouraged to follow their own paths. They were no longer tied to the home. Women engaged in societal roles instead of domestic roles, even if they did receive significantly less income compared to their male counterpart. Inter-family relationships arose out of merely necessity, due to family business tasks. Families weren't required to remain tight-knit and solely reliant on another. “The industrial revolution spawned great changes in family structure. Industrialization and urbanization prompted a marked change in life and working styles. Many people, especially the young, left the farms to work in factories; this process led to the dissolution of many extended families” (Finneran 1994: 46).

Women working in a coal mine.


 * The West's Industrial Revolution changed the situation of women in many ways. Some of the changes have occurred more recently in other civilizations, others were particularly characteristic of the 19th-century West. Industrialization cut into women's traditional work and protest roles (for example, in spearheading bread riots as attention shifted to work-based strikes), but it tended to expand educational opportunities. Some new work roles and protest outlets, including feminism, developed by 1914. Important changes occurred in the home as well. New ideas and standards at once elevated women's position and set up more demanding tasks. Relations among women were also affected by the growing use of domestic servants (the most common urban job for working-class women) and new attitudes by middle- and lower-class women alike.**

The Industrial Age also led to a rapid increase in birth rates, which had a large impact in the physical strength of women who faced this burden for the demand of children. It wasn't uncommon for families to have as many as up to 10 children at home. As a result of this, women would have to work throughout their pregnancies, and after having birth, immediately entering the work scene once again because of strained financial reasons. The care of the new born child would usually be left with older relatives and siblings. The women who found jobs as governesses for rich children or maids for wealthier families were more fortunate than those who were subjected to work in the factories. Working in factories meant enduring shocking conditions throughout the day, and then afterwards the women would return home to perform household domestic needs such as washing, cooking, and looking after children.

This Graph Shows Job Diversity. Women do home and factory stuff
 * Occupational Category || Males (thousands) || Females (thousands) || Percent Female ||
 * Public Administration || 64 || 3 || 4.5 ||
 * Armed Forces || 63 || 0 || 0.0 ||
 * Professions || 162 || 103 || 38.9 ||
 * Domestic Services || 193 || 1135 || 85.5 ||
 * Commercial || 91 || 0 || 0.0 ||
 * Transportation & Communications || 433 || 13 || 2.9 ||
 * Agriculture || 1788 || 229 || 11.4 ||
 * Fishing || 36 || 1 || 2.7 ||
 * Mining || 383 || 11 || 2.8 ||
 * Metal Manufactures || 536 || 36 || 6.3 ||
 * Building & Construction || 496 || 1 || 0.2 ||
 * Wood & Furniture || 152 || 8 || 5.0 ||
 * Bricks, Cement, Pottery, Glass || 75 || 15 || 16.7 ||
 * Chemicals || 42 || 4 || 8.7 ||
 * Leather & Skins || 55 || 5 || 8.3 ||
 * Paper & Printing || 62 || 16 || 20.5 ||
 * Textiles || 661 || 635 || 49.0 ||
 * Clothing || 418 || 491 || 54.0 ||
 * Food, Drink, Lodging || 348 || 53 || 13.2 ||
 * Other || 445 || 75 || 14.4 ||
 * Total Occupied || 6545 || 2832 || 30.2 ||
 * Total Unoccupied || 1060 || 5294 || 83.3 ||



media type="youtube" key="mCSP9lYr24Y" height="340" width="560"Im sorry this has no sarcasm to make learning more interesting

media type="youtube" key="uTneyXrmfAE" height="344" width="425" the previous one was serious, this one not so serious, but it does show how women usually had domestic jobs and chores at the home. However, it does not show (as the previous one did) how women had many more opportunities during this time to work out of the house and make personal wages and have a little more influence in society. It would take much longer though for labor rights to equalize between men and women, and for women to lose the shackles and stereotype of the home. (please watch first vid first...you too quig)

There is no doubt that the coming of industrialization in New England dramatically altered the ways families of the time were connected, communicated, and supported one another. With the rapid shift away from more localized family-based agrarian or small business enterprises to one that required longer hours, often away from immediate family with work that was not of immediate importance to the family itself, the impact on the early American family cannot be underestimated. Before the onset of the Industrial Revolution in New England and early America, “The household was not only the industrial center but also the social center, for its members derived social satisfaction from working together and from rustic amusements enjoyed at home or on the village green”

!!!!!!!!!!!With new employment opportunities opening up for women, men and children in New England and America, families were now more free to split apart, move away, or engage in work that their gender or age might not have otherwise allowed.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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