Industrial Revolution

Lowell Mills

• Industrialization
  • Change from agrarian to industrial economy
  • Factories / Mass production
  • Began in England
  • Then in U.S.
• Lowell Mills opened in 1823
  • Located in Lowell Massachusetts
  • Opened by the Boston Associates

The Girls

• Factories depended on a steady supply of cheap female labor.
  • Thousands of New England farm girls were recruited to operate the machines.
• Was to be temporary
  • To not disrupt traditional norms
  • Girls eventually got married, had children and stopped working for wages

Boarding Houses

• The Lowell Mills developed a system of boarding houses
  • Girls lived together in these homes
  • Different than England where girls had to find a place to live. This was dangerous.
• It was the first time so many girls lived away from home
  • Girls were supervised
  • 4-6 girls shared a room
  • Parents were ensured that girls would be taken care of
• Factory life was an opportunity
  for girls to live away from home
• Contact with other girls allowed
  them new experiences and
  sharing of ideas

New Opportunities

• At first the mills seemed to pay well and offered new opportunities
  • The girls gained a new independence from the male-dominated family farm.
  • Prior generations of girls and women did not have these opportunities
  • New bonds were created among the girls

The Lowell Offering

• The Lowell Offering: A literary journal of writings by factory girls
  • Poems
  • Stories
  • Essays
• Girls could learn to read and write in the evenings
• Factory owners paid editor and distributed the journal
  • Used as marketing to recruit other girls

New Dangers and Discrimination

• Although there were new opportunities for the girls, there were also new dangers
  • No labor laws – women had little to no protection
  • Dangerous working conditions
  • Sexual harassment and abuse 
  • Wage discrimination

Working Condition

• Work was strictly segregated by sex
  • Men were supervisors and skilled mechanics
  • Women attended the spinning and weaving machines
• Insubordinate workers were fired
• Could be blacklisted
  • Would not be hired at any other factory

Wages

• Women and girls were not considered the family “bread-winners” so they were paid very low wages
• They earned 1/3 – 1/2 of men’s earnings
• The highest paid woman earned less than the lowest paid man
• During economic downturns employers either lowered rates or increased required more pieces

Slater Mill Protest, 1824

• First strike of its kind involving women
  • 102 girls participated
  • Protested wage cut
  • Stopped work for one week

The New Middle Class

• Began in the urban and industrializing Northeast
• One could work their way into it but fall out of it easily
• Provided a market for consumer goods
• Most had a new type of family and lifestyle

Changes at Home

• Old patterns of life diminished as a new market economy developed
  • Farmers and craftsmen now worked outside of the home
  • now in an office or store
  • Women gained a new autonomous role
  • Children were no longer workers but rather what the family produced