From Housewife To Working-Class Women During The Industrial Revolution

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From Housewives to Working Class Woman

The Industrial Revolution started in England bringing new wealth, growth to the middle class, and new industrial machinery. But most importantly the Industrial Revolution made working class women hard independent workers, political, and better faster housekeepers than before.
Gender roles gave plenty of power to the males as head of households and responsible for politics and the home income. Females in the other hand were lower rank than males because it was a law and they where raised to understand their place. Females had no rights as a married woman. They couldn’t show up to court as witnesses because according to god married couples together were “one” and that one to represent both had to be the
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The Industrial Revolution was created to raise people’s standard of living. Or in my case it gave white women “self worth”. Steam boats where created and soon many other transportation devices as well. This made it easier for companies to sell more pounds of product. Industries grew, new business where being made, and soon the opportunity for women to work in mills and mines came. Working class women would work the same jobs as men or sometimes even heavier than them but yet still get paid less then them. When wars were active, women still had to assist the men. Many white women had many opportunities to make money during the war. Some white women would wash the soldier uniforms for rations and overcharging soldiers for their uniforms was a serious offence. Not only that but there was a point in time where officers would have soldiers watch the lady’s wash their uniforms to ensure that they where not washing in the river that they would drink water from. If seen doing so they would be punished and placed in the guardhouse. Commanders would prefer to hire females for nurses in the army because each female that was a nurse was a free man out in the battlefield. Not only that but it was a “role” and “customs” for the females to assist the sick. They didn’t always want to be a nurse but they mostly had to because there were records of them being withheld form their rations if they didn’t assist in the …show more content…
Of course it wasn’t easy for them as they had faced many challenges but it all began because of the council for Woman’s Rights met up once and created the Declaration of Sentiments, which described the injustice of the current role of woman in society including their inability to own property, their subjugation to men, and their lack of political access. Grateful for these actions many woman began to pick up and the first Woman’s Rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York soon all over from United States to England. One protester, Women’s Right activist, and co-founder of the National Woman’s Party was Lucy Burns. Lucy was very successful in talking to other suffragist and convincing them to spread the word about woman’s rights. Even when she was in jail most of her life she would never stop talking about woman’s rights and protesting for it. Because of her almost never ending fight and the numerous council meetings, protesting’s, rallies, working class woman could vote in 1920. The right for women to vote became the 19th amendment in the constitution of the United States. Then the Era was introduced and a few years’ later equal rights by laws were approved. Now being able to vote and having a part in governance, working class woman tried putting a stop to alcohol consumption because of the many problems it produced. Most men would socialize

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