There were many challenges facing New York women in the early 1900’s. New York City had largest percentage of female workers than most of upstate industrial cities. Most single but some married worked in factories or in their cramped tenement apartments. In their tenements they would make boxes, artificial flowers and clothing. There was a greater tendency for Jewish woman to work for wages because it was reflected in their experiences in east European shtetls, which is where many women had performed wage work and some had contact with socialist ideas. (462) Many jobs that these women had were dangerous and poorly paying, they had irregular employment and language barriers were frequent and housing was scarce. Tenements were extremely overcrowded,
