Question

In the middle of the twentieth century, US factories were considered the most productive in the world. Briefly outline the progression since that point and invoke at least one pioneer of change.

Answer 1

Let us reflect upon the Industrial revolution of the twentieth century to understand the concept better. The pioneer change was basically in the identity of the women. There was a humanistic movement overall in the revolution.

So, when it comes to the humanistic movement, the industrial revolution marked a change of attitude on the minds of the people over the years and more acceptance of the ‘Working class’ image of the women in general in the field of business. To throw more light upon this aspect, let’s go back to the days of the Industrial revolution to tap the historical trends of the same:

There was a dire need to working opportunities for the women in working class families during the days of the Industrial revolution due to the economic crisis in their families. The scope of opportunities for the women revolved primarily in the area of domestic services, daily wages labor class workers or in the textile mills. However, the working environment was not very conducive for the women to work in due to unhygienic conditions prevailing at that time along with the exposure of them to the hazardous work surroundings. There was also no parity witnessed in the wages that were granted to the men and that to the women for similar jobs. Men assumed higher positions than women in the working class families. However, due to the cash crunch faced by the economically regressed families, the dependencies upon the women as well, to get into the working class families increased. Women also faced oppositions from the male fraternity from banning them from working in certain areas that the males believed women could not do justice with. However, with the advent of new and emerging technologies, women’s scope of work migrated from domestic maids or factory workers to now, clerical jobs too. Accordingly their independence in the field of work rose. The awareness among the women fraternity now started increasing with women fighting for their rights in the working system. With rapid industrialization, women stood up to voice their opinions and started demanding for equality with the status and facilities availed by the men. As a result, a healthy competition initiate in the labor class of the society with the men trying to keep pace with the women in every field which was earlier predominantly managed by men. However, due to the wages differentiation still posing as a challenge for the women who expected parity in terms of the wage structure as well, there grew a demand for the female workers in factories and other places owing to the concept of availing women laborers for cheaper wages.

However, with women trying to strike balance between the household as well it was necessary for them to contribute to the earnings in the family by getting themselves employed outside the household, the lives of their children became more challenging since they had to grow up mostly on their own and had to take care of the younger siblings in the families too. There was hence a rise of child mortality rate due to the low care and dietary supervision given to such children. As a result, the women started bringing their children to their workplace. Exploitation of child labor began to take place at this phase. Moreover, women became merely a product at the Factory workplaces. The migrated workers, be in males or females who would settle in the Urban areas for work, would go back home to visit their families at weekends. The males would enter into various social vices with the women being the victims of prostitutions. This gave rise to the brothels and whore houses in the middle of 19^th century. Women were further not considered as versatile when it came to the domestic front of their activities with the belief that the Factory women workers have gradually forgotten their household management skills.

In a broader sense of the women’s role in Industrial revolution, even men had a role to play in the humanistic movement, some with a positive influence while some, with a negative one. Men started unionizing against women for the women were gradually getting more employment than the men owing to cheaper wages. On the other hand, there was a change in the prevailing political scenario as well. With women fighting for their rights in the system, there was unrest in the political set-up thereby granting a gradual change in the whole system. There were various reforms observed in the laws governing the marriages. Certain laws were extreme upon women like the ones dealing with estates. Certain laws got reformed to make it more favorable to the women at their workplace as well. Women started resorting to the print media to voice their opinions across the country. All this factors went into influencing the change in social ideologies of the people in the society. As a result, in the latter half of the 19th century, major movements happened in terms of the overall political agenda initiated by women. These movements were reading the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, the Committee for Obtaining the Admission of Women to University Examinations, and the National Union for the Education of Girls of All Classes above the Elementary. These movements further continued to impart training to the young women to make them ready to face the challenges of the Trade and Manufacturing sector. Various other political changes were also the result of women initiatives in the whole system.

However, with child labor gradually rising due to the women in the families unable to leave back their children without proper supervision, urged the Government to implement the Child labor laws across the nation to stop the exploitation of the young souls at workplaces. With industrialization, the status of women transformed phenomenally, with the each of the societal members getting impacted in some way or the other. There was overall rise in the economic independence of the women during this period.