Labor And Women
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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 womans 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 1840s and 50s, 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 “womans work.”
Sewing had to be done by hand because the sewing machine had not been introduced to factories
until the 1830s.
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 WOMENS LABOR UNIONS
Womens Labor Unions have been in existence almost as long as women have been working. The following are some highlights of these unions:
– In 1863, women in Troy New York organized the Collar Laundry Union. They worked in laundries making detachable collars for mens shirts. Because of their strike, they won and increase in wages. The leader of the laundry workers union, Kate Mullaney went on to become assistant secretary of the National Labor Union.
– In 1868 the Working Womens Association was formed. Led by Augusta Lewis, a typographer, its primary focus was representing women on pay and working conditions. She later became the president of the of the Womens Typographical Union No.1. The Typographers admitted women on an equal basis as men rather than create separate womens locals.
In 1869, a group of women shoe stitcher in Lynn, Massachusetts formed the Daughters of St. Crispin, a national womens labor organization. Supported by the Knights of Crispin, their focus was on equal work for equal pay. The Daughters of St. Crispin is known as the first national union of women.
– In 1881 the Knights of Labor began admitting women. In 1885, it organized the Womans Work Department.
– Mary Kimball Kehew organized the Union for Industrial Progress. Its purpose was to help women organize craft unions. She was the first woman hired by the American Federation of Labor as an organizer.
– Leonora Barry was the first female labor organizer in American history. An Irish immigrant ,
Barry faced many a family hardship from her early life challenges to become a schoolteacher at age 15. The pay was poor and Barry earned 11 cents for her first day on the job and only 65 cents for her first week of work. She continued at that job for two years. In 1884, Barry joined the Knights of Labor, which welcomed women, blacks,