Women's Lives During the Gilded Age

Flashcards reviewing the improvements, continuities, and deteriorations in women's lives during the Gilded Age.

What was the percentage of unmarried women working outside the home in 1870?

13%

By 1900, how much is the growth of women in workplace?

The number of female workers tripled

What was The percentage of the total workforce made up by women in 1900?

17%

What were the reasons women were leaving for more lucrative work in textile garment making, food processing industries?

They wanted less demanding and better paying jobs

By 1920 half of clerical workers were women, compared to 4% in 1880

1890s women can get clerical, secretarial positions

What positions were men holding that ensured women have no career pathway, also with the expectation women will eventually marry and leave the workplace?

Jobs that remained dominated by men, limiting women's career pathways.

How little could women be paid for 70 hours of labor in textile mills and food processing plants during the Gilded Age?

Typical wages for women in textile mills and food processing plants during the Gilded Age.

What was 70 hours?

The average number of hours immigrant women worked for just $5 by the end of the 19th century.

What jobs were abandoned by white women and often forced immigrant women into extreme poverty to take?

Occupations in domestic service, laundries, bakeries.

What change made farm work a male preserve as the new technology was unsuitable for female operatives?

The impact of mechanization of farming in the 1890s on women's roles.

What percentage were women (½ clerical workers) in 1920 compared to the 4% of 1880?

Percentage of clerical workers who were women by 1920, compared to 1880.

What type of work gave black women the most autonomy ?

laundry, as they work in own homes, using own washing sites

What was the Washing Society?

The name of the organization founded by black washerwomen in Atlanta in 1881.

What did the Washing Society strike do and what’s its impact?

Strike unless they are paid at a higher uniform rate, expanded to 3k sticks in a few weeks with local church support

Full demands not met but not arrested, no imposition of fees

How were working class married women exploited?

Old tenement buildings bought by entrepreneurs that became sweatshops where women and children worked long hours for little pay.

What is the economic policy where governments leave business enterprises unfettered by laws that have potential to inhibit their tax income?

Definition of laissez-faire economics.

What is work like for young immigrant women?

They took places in factories, where cheap and unskilled workers are unprotected by legislation so long hours low wages

Work 70 hours for $5

Forced into extreme poverty

What was the power imbalance between black women, and white employers over wages and work conditions?

The key disadvantage and imbalance black women had in their jobs.

What was the Collar Laundry Union of Troy?

The name of a women-led union organized in the 1860s.

What was the Uprising of the 20k strike?

A significant strike in New York in 1909 done by many immigrant women of ILGWU, one of the largest strikes during the 1900s

What was the telephone industry in TODIBEW?

The industry dominated by women in the TODIBEW.

What activities did leaders organize, like dances, bazaars, and sponsored educational programmes to enhance leadership skills?

Activities organized by leaders of the TODIBEW to engage members.

Why did male unionists insist that women should not be employed?

They believed wages would be lowered or men would lose jobs if women entered the workplace

What was fewer than 2%?

The percentage of employed women in unions in 1910.

What was the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)?

Organization founded in 1903 that sought protective legislation for female workers and sponsored educational activities.

What programs did the WTUL advocate for women to enter skilled roles?

Protective legislation for female workers, women’s suffrage

Apprenticeships for women to enter skilled roles

What were office or business jobs (at $7 a week, gaining status)?

Types of jobs women with high school education could access by the 1890s.

What were common female jobs in the 19th century?

teachers, secretaries, librarians, and telephone operators

What was the significant result in the 1900's with women's education?

By 1900, half of all high school graduates were female, at least half of women graduates delay marriage to look for work opportunities

Many made it in social work and teaching

How did secure steady incomes create new obligations for women?

They are now expected to foster an artistic home, houses became statements for cultural aspirations

What made downtown establishments a social club for affluent women?

Stained glass skylights, lounges

Waldorf Astoria has ballrooms

By nature, women are compassionate, nurturing, sensitive to others. Who believed this?

The belief of Willard, the temperance leader, regarding women's nature.

What did Willard believe to protect the family and improve public morality?

domestication of politics

What was drinking in men thought to do?

Encourage men to squander earnings, threaten family life (Willard)