Brno Farm

Unit 8: Revolutions (Part 3):

Duration: 3 to 4 hours

Overview

“The Evolving Roles of Women During the Industrial Revolution” is designed to explore the impact of industrialization, trade policies, economic sectors, and social change on women’s roles. The project incorporates historical context, economic patterns, gender roles, critical thinking, and creativity.

Project Breakdown

Course Objectives Analyze the transformation of women’s economic and social roles during the Industrial Revolution Examine how economic shifts fundamentally changed gender expectations and workplace dynamics Explore how trade policies, technological innovations, and industrial development impacted women’s workforce participation Understand the complex relationship between economic structures and social change Evaluate primary source materials to interpret historical experiences Compare and contrast women’s roles before and during industrialization Develop nuanced perspectives on economic and gender transformations

Session 1: Women’s Roles & Economic Shifts

Think! How might moving from home-based work to factory labor change women’s lives?”

IIntroduction: Economic Shifts (Agrarian to Industrial Economies):

The Industrial Revolution (1760–1840) transformed economies from agrarian, farm-based systems to industrial, factory-driven ones. Mechanization, like the spinning jenny and steam engine, shifted labor from rural fields to urban factories.

Women, previously engaged in domestic tasks (e.g., spinning at home), entered factories, particularly textile mills, as wage earners. This offered economic independence but often at the cost of grueling conditions and low wages.

The shift disrupted traditional gender roles, pulling women into the public economic sphere.

Case Study: Lowell Mill Girls and Gender Role Shifts

Overview of Lowell Mills

The Lowell textile mills in Massachusetts (1820s–1830s) were a hub of early industrialization. By the 1830s, women comprised 50% of the workforce (per University of Massachusetts Lowell archives).

There were 12–14-hour workdays, low wages ($2–$3/week vs. higher male wages), and dormitory living, which offered independence but also strict oversight.

Women like Sarah Bagley transitioned from rural domestic work to factory jobs, gaining economic autonomy but facing hazardous conditions (e.g., poor ventilation, machinery risks).

Sarah George Bagley (1809 – 1889)

Think! How did factory work challenge traditional gender roles (e.g., women as homemakers)? How did economic independence empower women, and what limitations persisted (e.g., wage disparities, societal stigma)?

Gender Role Shift Examples

• Example 1: Women’s earnings supported families, shifting their role from dependent to contributor.
• Example 2: Factory work exposed women to labor activism (e.g., 1836 Lowell strike), challenging expectations of passivity.

Think! How do these examples show a shift in women’s societal roles?

Session 2: Women’s Roles & Trade Policies

Introduction: Trade Policies (Mercantilism, Tariffs, Global Trade Expansion):

Mercantilism, emphasizing export-driven wealth, and tariffs shaped industrial growth. 

Britain’s tariffs on imported cotton protected domestic textile industries, while global trade expansion, especially cotton imports from the Americas, fueled mill production. 

Historical texts (e.g., British Museum archives) show how trade policies increased demand for cheap labor, drawing women into factories. 

In Britain and Lowell, women comprised significant portions of the textile workforce, yet earned less than men, reflecting economic policies that prioritized profit over equity.

Case Study: Women in Lowell’s Textile Mills (25 minutes)

Overview of Lowell’s Mills and Trade

Lowell, Massachusetts, was a hub of textile production, powered by global cotton imports and U.S. tariffs that protected domestic mills.

Workforce Composition: Women, often young (15–30), made up half of Lowell’s mill workers, drawn by wages but paid less ($2–$3/week vs. men’s $4–$6, per historical records).

Sarah Bagley’s Activism: A Mill Girl who organized the 1836 Lowell strike against wage cuts, showing women’s shift from domestic to public, activist roles.

Trade policies increased mill output, but profit motives kept women’s wages low, reinforcing gender inequities (British Museum archives on similar British trends).

Sarah Bagley

Gender Role Shifts:

Example 1: Women’s wages gave them financial agency (e.g., funding education), challenging their role as homemakers.

Example 2: Strikes and petitions (e.g., 1836) showed women asserting public influence, a departure from traditional domesticity.

Think! How did trade-driven mill work empower women, and where did it limit them?

Activity 2: “Trade Policy Impact” Flowchart  Create a simple flowchart to visualize how trade policies shaped women’s roles, fostering critical and creative thinking. Prompt: Show the sequence from trade policies to women’s factory roles, using Lowell as an example. Include at least three steps: A trade policy (e.g., tariffs on cotton imports or global cotton trade). An economic effect (e.g., growth of textile mills in Lowell). A change in women’s roles (e.g., shift from domestic work to wage labor or activism).

Session 3: Women’s Roles & Growth of Factories

Growth of Factories (Textile Mills in Britain and Lowell, Massachusetts):

Factories, particularly textile mills, were central to industrialization. 

In Britain, mills in Manchester employed thousands of women in hazardous conditions. 

In Lowell, Massachusetts, the “Lowell Mill Girls” (50% of the workforce by the 1830s, per University of Massachusetts Lowell archives) worked in structured mill systems, living in dormitories. Factory growth offered women new roles but reinforced gender disparities through low pay and unsafe work environments. 

These economic changes sparked early labor activism, laying groundwork for women’s rights movements like the Seneca Falls Convention (1848).

Introduction: Daily Life in Lowell Mills 

In the Lowell Mill Girls (1830s), young women (aged 15–30) comprised 50% of Lowell’s textile workforce (University of Massachusetts Lowell archives).

Working Conditions: 12–14-hour shifts, 6 days a week, operating noisy looms in dusty, poorly ventilated mills. Hazards included lung issues from cotton dust and machinery accidents.

Living Conditions: Company boardinghouses housed 20–30 women per house under strict rules (e.g., curfews, church attendance), offering communal support but limited freedom.

Future Impact: Harsh conditions sparked activism (e.g., 1836 strike), influencing modern workplace rights like fair wages and safety standards.

Think! “How might long hours and boardinghouse rules have affected women’s daily lives compared to rural home life?”

Case Study: Lowell Mill Girls’ Daily Experiences

Overview of Daily Life:

Work Routine: Women woke at 4:30 AM, worked 5:00 AM–7:00 PM, with brief meal breaks. Tasks included tending looms, risking injury from belts and shuttles (NPS.gov records).

Living Routine: Boardinghouse life included shared meals, sewing, and occasional lectures or writing for the Lowell Offering. Rules enforced “moral conduct,” limiting social freedom.

Concrete Example: Sarah Bagley worked 12-hour shifts, lived in a boardinghouse, and used wages to support her family, but led the 1836 strike to protest wage cuts, showing a shift to activism.

Future Connection: Strikes and petitions (e.g., 10-hour workday campaigns) set precedents for modern labor laws, like the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).

Mill Girls: A Look at Working Conditions of Early Textile Mills

The Evolving Roles of Women – FLSA’s Legacy in Labor Rights

Key Points:

• Minimum Wage Floor: Established a federal minimum of $0.25/hour (rising to $0.40 by 1945), providing economic security for low-wage female-dominated sectors like textiles and domestic work. This built on state laws for women (pre-1938) but nationalized protections, reducing gender-based wage gaps and enabling independence—echoing Mill Girls’ wage protests.
• Overtime Protections: Mandated “time-and-a-half” pay for hours over 40/week (phased from 44 hours), curbing exploitative long shifts that disproportionately affected women in factories. This improved health and work-life balance, fostering women’s roles as family providers rather than endless laborers.
• Child Labor Bans: Prohibited “oppressive” child labor (under 16 generally), safeguarding young girls from hazardous mill work seen in Lowell and Manchester. This promoted education and long-term gender equity by keeping girls in school, reducing intergenerational poverty.
• Broader Coverage Gaps and Amendments: Initial exemptions (e.g., domestic, agricultural workers—often women) limited impact, but amendments (e.g., 1963 Equal Pay Act under FLSA) prohibited sex-based wage discrimination, directly advancing women’s economic equality.
• Social Ripple Effects: FLSA spurred women’s labor activism and rights movements (e.g., influencing Seneca Falls legacies), raising living standards and challenging domestic norms by valuing women’s paid work.

Main Players:

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Signed FLSA on June 25, 1938, as New Deal cornerstone; advocated for “fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” to end “starvation wages.”
• Senator Hugo Black: Sponsored the Senate bill, pushing for broad wage/hour reforms amid Great Depression exploitation.
• Senator Robert F. Wagner: Co-sponsor; labor ally from New York, key in earlier Wagner Act for unions that amplified women’s voices.
• Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labor): First female Cabinet member; led drafting, drawing from her factory inspections and advocacy for women workers (e.g., Triangle Shirtwaist survivors).
• Mary Anderson (Women’s Bureau Director): Ensured women’s perspectives in FLSA, focusing on low-wage female industries.

Activity 3: “Mill Girl Daily Schedule” Timeline  Create a timeline on paper or digitally (e.g., Canva, Google Docs) depicting a Lowell Mill Girl’s typical day in 1836. Map out a 24-hour day (4:00 AM–4:00 AM), including at least 4 key moments: A work task (e.g., “5:00 AM: Tend looms, risk injury”). A living condition (e.g., “7:00 PM: Dinner in boardinghouse, strict rules”). A challenge (e.g., “All day: Dusty air harms lungs”). A future-oriented action (e.g., “8:00 PM: Write petition for better wages”). Include one historical detail (e.g., “$2–$3/week wages” or “1836 strike”) and one link to future factory work (e.g., “Petitions inspired modern labor laws”). Include sketches or images and colors to enhance clarity. Example Timeline: 4:30 AM: Wake in boardinghouse (sketch: bed). 5:00 AM–7:00 PM: Work 14-hour shift, dusty looms ($2–$3/week) (sketch: loom). 7:30 PM: Dinner under curfew (sketch: table). 8:00 PM: Write strike petition, inspiring future labor laws (sketch: pen).

Session 4: Quiz and Wrap-up

Organize Deliverables “Trade Policy Impact” Flowchart   “Mill Girl Daily Schedule” Timeline

Rubric: Industrial Revolution & The Evolving Roles of Women

Criteria	1 Point (Needs Improvement)	2 Points (Developing)	3 Points (Proficient)	4 Points (Exemplary)
General Effort & Independence	Minimal effort; relies heavily on others; incomplete tasks.	Moderate effort; some independence; tasks partially complete.	Consistent effort; works independently; completes tasks fully.	Strong effort; highly independent; exceeds task expectations.
Conversation & Participation	Rarely engages; off-topic or no contributions.	Limited engagement; basic contributions, sometimes off-topic.	Actively engages; relevant, thoughtful contributions.	Highly active; insightful, focused contributions enhance discussion.
Flowchart (Session 2)	Incomplete; lacks historical detail or role shift; no creativity.	Basic flowchart; includes 1–2 details, vague role shift; limited creativity.	Clear flowchart; includes historical detail and role shift; creative elements.	Detailed flowchart; accurate details, clear role shift; highly creative.
Timeline (Session 3)	Incomplete; lacks conditions or future link; no creativity.	Basic timeline; includes 1–2 conditions, vague future link; limited creativity.	Clear timeline; includes conditions and future link; creative elements.	Detailed timeline; accurate conditions, strong future link; highly creative.