Patriarchy Of Working-Class Men And Women

The chief political issue of the late 1800s was working conditions for laborers. Big businesses, having sought to cut costs however possible, created horrible working conditions for laborers. In an effort to improve these conditions, workers waged strikes and formed labor unions, so that they might gain some semblance of bargaining power. However the fight to improve conditions for workers was largely ineffective thanks to public support of big business, disorganization amongst labor unions, and the negative connotation that came to be associated with labor unions.

The 1800s is characterized with the rise of industrial America. As technological advances were introduced to industry, unskilled labor also rose in accordance to the rise in factories. However, this rise also introduced several labor unions such as the Knights of Labor, which organized a series of protests and riots. The labor unions had good intentions, aiming to lower the average work hours for workers, as well as increase their wages. However, their methods which involved riots and protests, were altogether not effective, and ended up being detrimental to their cause. Between 1875 and 1900, labor unions surged and were temporarily successful; however, their methods would prove detrimental to their cause overtime, leading to their

Seventy-five percent of the workforce was made up of women,9 and most of these women were Mexican. These Mexican women faced extremely harsh treatment while working. The three biggest problems these women had that they wanted to get rid of by unionizing were the “pet” system, when male employees and supervisors would favor women they liked or went out with,10 the piece-rate system, when workers get paid by their work accomplished, not by the hour, and the supervisors, who would constantly watch the women and make sure they were working hard.11 Women particularly hated these three systems, especially since they are discriminatory. Also, the piece-rate system would make it hard to get consistent pay. All of the strenuous work would of course make the workers sore, and soon their workload would slowly start to decrease. Furthermore, it is hard to design the piece-rate system in such a way that women would get about the same amount of money men who are paid by the hour. In addition to discrimination, the jobs were often dangerous, as Julia Luna Mount stated, “After work, my hands were red, swollen, and I was on fire!”12 These working conditions inevitably made the labor force create the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). Most of the members in this

It was in the late 1890s that the citizens in Chicago, and other areas, felt it was a good idea to let women work. There was much demand for work in factories, because the heavy machinery we now use had not been invented at the time. The working conditions of the women in these factories were terrible. Many times, women were injured by the machinery used without compensation. As a result, in 1903, the National Women’s Trade Union

Similar to the farmers during the Gilded Age, industrial workers combatted poor working conditions, child labor, low wages, and long hours by forming labor unions and going on strike, which ended as a massive failure. Early in the industrial era, workers had no minimum wage so it was up to the factory owners to set the rate at which their workers were to be paid. Some owners did not pay their employees in cash but in company scrip which could be redeemed at the company store. These workers not only worked for an unreasonably low wage, but also for virtually every waking hour. Industrial workers could be at the factory for fourteen, sixteen, or even eighteen hours without meal or rest breaks and no overtime pay.

In the 1800’s, before the establishment of factories, laborers worked from home and received a “piece-rate wage” based on the output and quality of products produced. Cottage industries included spinning, weaving, lacing, and branding, which provided job opportunities and a source of income for women. This “piece-rate wage” system disappeared during the Industrial Revolution, when steam-powered factories became laborers’ workplace. As women started to get older, the gender wage gap widened; by the age of 30, women factory workers only earned approximately one-third of a man’s wage. Women organized into labor unions, which utilized strikes to negotiate labor rights and fair pay. The strikes were not always successful, but started to catch the

This new expansion allowed a new working class to emerge, and by 1890, two-thirds of Americans worked for wages (Foner 634). Along with these new factories came wealthy company owners who were known to run their factories nonstop with horrible working conditions. Most factory workers, worked sixty hours a week with no pensions, compensation for injuries, or protections against unemployment, and between 1880 and 1900, 35,000 workers perished each year due to factory and mine accidents (Foner 641). Many workers went on strikes to demand higher pay but employers simply replaced them with unemployed workers, leaving little hope of achieving freedom for the workers.

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

The working conditions and working rights in the late 1800s and early 1900s were lacking and required some help to make more humane. Before any of the laws that helped reform our nation, working in mines or factories was dangerous and not worth the effort. Secondly, the hours were unethical, as workers sometimes had to toil away for 12 hours, seven days a week with a one day break every two weeks. Workers who were fighting for their rights were not alone, as there were some people who also believed morality was more important at the moment. The changes made were for the better and made the world of hard labor a better place. Thankfully, these rules were not ever taken away and people now live to know that they will earn the money and rights that they deserve.

The ensuing conflict, between labor vs. capital, during the late 1800s initiated a struggle of power in the workforce between the rich-industrialists (or corporate leaders) and the middle-class/lower-class workers. The Capitalists had intervened with the protests orchestrated by the workers, ensuring that the power remains with them. The strategies of the industrialists and the unique ways of protesting from the workers, contributes to spur a vigorous argument between the employers and their employees. The workers tried their best to ameliorate their working conditions by forming numerous unions, trying to fix currency (gold to paper) to economically help themselves, refusing to go to work, resorting to violence and non-violence, etc. However, the Corporate leaders kept an upper hand and dissolved the workers’ ambitions by hiring scabs, creating a strong relationship with the military (Pullman strike), controlling and fixing policies at work, hiring immigrants for cheap labor, etc. Throughout the late 1800s, the corporate leaders have been able to successfully prevent workers who had resorted to: forming unions, protests (ex. Pullman strike and Homestead strike), violence (ex. Haymarket Sq. Riot), etc., from achieving a radical solution to the workers issues with the management by using several different strategies including but not limited to: hiring scabs/immigrants in the Homestead strike, using government support in the Pullman strike and keeping the power on their side

Two years after the infamous Triangle fire, 20,000 workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts; angered over wage cuts and deplorable conditions went on strike, prompting the twin reactions of police brutality and press coverage (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). “As a result of the strike, not only were wages raised and conditions improved in the textile industry as a whole, but important legislation was also enacted that restricted the exploitation of child and female labor” (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008, p. 132). It is doubtful that working conditions would have evolved to the level of equity we find today, without the sacrifice and activism of unions and their members.

The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a

During the early stages of the Twentieth Century, the labor force was focused more on industrial jobs than agricultural jobs as technology was evolving. About 24 million Americans ranging from 10 years and above were employed. The number of women working in the workforce was about 19 percent as children in the workforce was about 6 percent of the labor force. The work force was dominated by men as culture deemed them to be superior than women. Children worked as some parents couldn’t provide enough for their families, so they sent their children off to work in dangerous conditions. As the second industrial revolution was nearing its end, many people were employed in factories which received low pay and dangerous conditions as the average week was 53 hours. At the start of the 20th Century, only 15 percent of people that got injured in the workplace were successful in suing their employer and received money for the damages. This type of exposure of human labor would cause a shift in the labor force as

Workers during the Industrial Revolution had hoped for benefits, such as health, cleaner working conditions, better pay, and less working hours. Industrial workers often felt overworked because of the long, stressful hours placed upon them by their employers. Labor unions began to emerge as a result of the long hours and awful working conditions. These workers were locked up all day in factories that were eight stories high. They were given absolutely no relaxation until the heavy engine stopped. After leaving work, they would go home to get refreshed for the next day. This left these industrial workers with no time for association with their families.