Filed In:
Work: 19th Century
Women and work in the 19th century, as women's paid work opportunities began to expand.
Women and Unions: Lowell Mill Girls Organize
America's first working women's association to press for better working conditions and pay -- in other words, a union -- was organized in 1844, and Sarah Bagley was the first President.
Women and Unions: Late 19th Century Labor Organizing
Some highlights of American women's labor organizing in the late 19th century, brought to you by your Women's History Guide.
American Women at Work
Curriculum suggestions for a focus on women at work through history. Commercial site, lots of free information too.
Baby Was Made 'Delegate No. 800'
Frances Willard on her 1880s meeting with Elizabeth Rodgers, Master Workman and head of the Knights of Labor large Chicago District No. 24.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
From the curators of a Smithsonian exhibit on sweatshops. Many sweatshop workers were seamstresses and other women, though that's not the article's focus.
Bibliography of Women's Labor History
From the Illinois Labor History Society, a booklist of good sources on this topic. A good beginning for middle school or high school research.
"I Will Kill Frick"
Emma Goldman on the attempt by Alexander Berkman to assassinate the chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company during the 1892 Homestead Strike.
Pathfinder: Women and Labor
Part of a bibliography from the National Archives on women's history resources.
Plight of Women's Work
Curriculum on women in the Industrial Revolution in England and Wales: includes testimony to Parliamentary commissions, illustrations, workforce chart.
Woman Working at a Sewing Machine
Photograph from around 1853 of a woman seated at a sewing machine. Photographer and woman are unindentified.
"Woman's right to labor," or, Low wages and hard work
Caroline Wells Healey Dall's 1859 lectures on women and work. Graphic format for the pages (text, too, but it's not too accurate).
Women and Finance in the Early National U.S.
An extensive survey by Robert E. Wright, U. of Virginia, on women as business owners, loan recipients, investors or otherwise involved in financial issues and the workforce in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Women in America: Occupations
Travelers to America in 1820-1842 describe women's occupations, providing insight into the status and roles of women.
Women in Industry
Good hyperlinked information on women's work in nineteenth century Britain.
Women Miners in the English Coal Pits
An 1842 Parliamentary Paper describing women's work in the coal mines of Yorkshire. Includes testimony of two women miners.