Women and children and working conditions By: Tamar Weinger and Sara Holand

Why Children Were in Demand? Workers didn’t have to pay children a high wage Children could fit between or in machines were adults couldn’t go Helped parents with extra income Children weren’t smart enough or old enough to fight back or ask for better wages

Continued They would do anything that was asked of them Parents bound children to work; Child labor will not be addressed until the Progressive Era 1890:  18% of the labor force had children between the ages of 10 – 15 years old

Effects The birth rate increased, it was normal for most families to have about ten or more kids A lot of children were killed because of explosions, they were over worked, and sometimes because of what they were told to do

Factory Act of 1833 First law involving improving factory conditions Passed by Parliament Limited amount of hours children of certain ages could work

Women who weren’t men Unions were generally hostile to women Men believed they shouldn’t work for wages because they would undercut wage levels Some separate women’s unions existed and they sought special legislation for female workers International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union led a strike against New York City sweatshops

Continued 19th Century:  No concern existed over the welfare of children and women doing hard labor New Jobs for women were created during the Industrial Age From 1880 – 1900, the number of employed women went from 2.6 million up to 8.6 million In 1880, 4% of clerical workers were women By 1920 the figure was 50%, but women couldn’t get work in management positions

Continued Middle Class married women were able to at stay home, but other women and children had to work Truant officers, who patrolled factories to get children into school, were often thwarted by struggling parents that needed the extra income.