Impact of the industrial revolution on European women in the nineteenth century

Women & the Industrial Revolution

European life underwent tremendous changed as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Changes in society brought about by the Industrial Revolution in the19th century had a profound effect on the lives of nearly all women living in Europe during that time.

During the first half of the 19th century, the effects of the industrial revolution triggered significant changes in the types of work many people did, including major changes in the lives of many women. As employment congregated more and more around industry, cities grew, and society began to take on characteristics familiar to most people today (Craig et. al., 2002). As the industrial revolution and resulting changes created more and more jobs for women, women began to develop political awareness. They began to be politically active, both in the United States and in Europe.

Before the advent of the industrial revolution, women were shut out of many trades by the guild system, which paired apprentices with masters. These apprentices were virtually always male. However, as manufacturers developed techniques for mass production, workers became responsible for less and less of the finished product, making room for workers with fewer skills than in the past, including women who had not been trained in the guild system (Craig et. al., 2002). One negative effect of that was that it created a surplus of workers.

Another change brought by mss production was that work moved increasingly out of the home and into the city. Families that had worked side by side in a rural setting now lived in a city and (Craig et. al., 2002) saw the husband leaving for work while the wife stayed home. This in turn redefined women's roles from someone fairly equal in the family's economics to someone who focused on domestic tasks. Until the industrial revolution, this pattern was only typical among the small middle class and the upper classes (Craig et. al., 2002). At the same time, it opened up more employment opportunities for young single women (Craig et. al., 2002). However, women tended to work only while single because bosses did not like interference from husbands and because they wanted to avoid work problems stemming from pregnancy or child rearing demands (Craig et. al., 2002). Women often worked in order to provide herself with a dowry and increase her chances for marriage (Craig et. al., 2002). Factory managers housed women in supervised dormitories, which persuaded parents that their daughters could leave home and work in safety (Craig et. al., 2002).

Unfortunately, because the new jobs created required few skills and little formal education, competition for jobs was sometimes strong. For women working in the garment industry, if orders fell off, women would lose their jobs. So, although the new jobs offered new freedoms, they presented new problems as well. Women who were truly living on their own without familial support, common because of the uprooting nature of moving from the countryside to cities, were in particularly dire straits if they lost their job. There were virtually always fewer jobs than women to fill them (Craig et. al., 2002), and some women had to resort to prostitution, especially those who had few skills and little education.

As the industrial revolution continued its influence, companies grew into corporations, and governmental bureaucracies developed or grew. This, along with the development of opportunities to teach elementary school, provided new opportunities for women with education (Craig et. al., 2002).

These job choices expanded again with the development of typewriters and telephone switchboards. Many women became office clerks or secretaries. Significant numbers of women got jobs working in stores (Craig et. al., 2002). But since employees perceived that women had financial help from either fathers or husbands, wages remained low. This created difficult situations for women who were the only support for themselves and any children they had.

In addition, while these events opened employment opportunities for women, those jobs represented a revolving door as they typically quit their jobs either when they got married or when their first child was born (Craig et. al., 2002). This encouraged employers to keep women in low-paying jobs with little responsibility. But in addition to perceptions that women were temporary and expendable workers, women were frequently denied the one thing that, more than anything else, could have elevated their employment options: education. For well into the 19th century, few women received a secondary, or high school, education. This meant that even if a university was willing to accept female students, few if any would be able to meet their entrance requirements (Craig et. al., 2002).

By the beginning of the 20th century, women were beginning to get college educations, but most got what was called "normal" education - two years beyond high school that qualified women to teach elementary school but that was not viewed as a real university education (Craig et. al., 2002).

Women's legal status during the 19th century reflected their overall status in society. Until near the end of that century, European women could not own property. In addition, when they married, anything the owned, earned or inherited became their husband's property. They had no legal standing, and if something was stolen from them, the legal interpretation was that it was the husband who had been robbed (Craig et. al., 2002). It wasn't until 1900 that women in Germany were allowed to take a job without their husbands' permission (Craig et. al., 2002).