A.

Introduction The Industrial Revolution was the mechanization of the European economy that began during the second half of the eighteenth century1. During the Industrial Revolution, cotton industry was booming. Many factories were hiring men, women as well as children. There were many advances in machinary like the spinning jenny and the power loom. This benefitted some of the unemployed, since these machines required people to operate them, some were hired. The demand for the work force led to factories hiring children, as well as families sending their children to work so they can help with the familys expenses. Child labor progressed and became a major contribution to the wage economy. Children were soon sent back to school. The Industrial Revolution had a big impact of family life as well as. Women, unmarried or widows, were to find a job to provide for themselves. Men who were married, provided for their families and men unmarried provided for themselves. Children were sent to school. Slowly the industrial revolution shifted the idea of family economy to more of a wage economy. B. Inventions Many inventions were created during the Industrial Revolution such as clothing machines. One of those inventions was the spinning jenny. This machine was invented in England to mass-produce thread2. This was a big help since the demand for cotton textiles was growing more rapidly. This machine was used in a clothing factories which were employed by both men and women.

1 2

Albert M. Craig, The Heritage of World Civilizations (New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005), 469. Ibid.

This next machine took the cotton textile manufacture from home to the factory. It was called the water frame. It was Richard Arkwright who created this machine3. The water frame was a water powered device and produced more durable cotton fabric. This invention led to the shift in the production of cotton textiles from households to factories. The power loom was later created. It was a machine that was driven by steam, which speeded the process up enormously4. The power loom was used in a textile factory by female weavers, usually with a male supervisor that oversaw the work of the women. Apart from clothing machines, there were also factory machines. One of those machines was the steam engine. This machine provided for the first time in human history an unlimited source of inanimate power. It was driven by burning coal.5 The Industrial Revolution could not have developed without coal and iron. Coal provided the power to drive the steam engines and was needed to make iron6. Iron was used to improve machines and tools and to build bridges and ships7. During the Industrial Revolution, the working-class and the poor had very bad living conditions. Some families lived in a single room home with no personal privacy8. As the revolution progressed, there were fewer artisans and highly skilled workers. Most links between factory or day-labor employment and home life dissolved. Many people of the working class were unemployed. Machinary took a tool on artisans and highly skilled workers.

3 4

M. E. Beggs Humphreys, The Industrial Revolution (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1976), 18. Neil Morris, The Industrial revolution (Italy: McRae Books, 2009), 12. 5 Craig, 471. 6 Worldbook (Chicago: Worldbook Inc., 2006), 249. 7 Ibid, 249. 8 Craig, 573.

C. Child Labor Families that struggled to provide for themselves would send their children to work. Some of the children were as young as 5 years of age. There were many jobs offered for children. Some textile mills often hired young girls to work as spinners whose jobs involved mending the breaks in the cotton9. Young boys were often told to push coal through coal mines10, where conditions were not ideal. The work shifts often lasted 10-12 hours. Some children had to clean machinery, such as removing fluff from under power looms. These machines were still running while children were cleaning them11, this is why it was so dangerous. Children also had to work away from their family members and with complete strangers instead. There were many accidents involving children as well. Later laws and acts lowered the amount of hours the children had to work as well as returning them back to school. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 set up school boards. At first board schools cost parents a few pence each week, encouraging many to keep their children at work12. Soon these fees were abolished in 1891. D. Womens Role Because the Industrial Revolution began with the textile production, women were deeply involved from the start. A womans duties were housekeeping, food preparation, child rearing and nurturing, and household management. Women in the working-class struggled the most. They had little money and usually not enough food. They had poor housing but because of housing reform they didnt have to live in a
9

Peter N. Stearns and John H. Hinshaw, The Industrial Revolution (California: The ABC-CLIO world history companion, 1996), 41. 10 Charlie Samuels, Timeline of the Industrial Revolution (New York: Gareth Stevens, 2010), 23. 11 Morris, 40. 12 Morris, 42.

single room home. Women that were desperate for money would turn toward prostitution. Women in the middle-class didnt work. Magazines and books directed toward women began to praise motherhood, domesticity, religion, and charity as the proper work for a woman in accordance with concept of separate spheres13. However, European women faced social and legal disabilities in the property rights, family law, and education. In 1882, Great Britain allowed married women to own property in their own right. In France, a married woman could not even open a savings account in her own name until 1895 and not until 1907 were married women granted possession of their own wages14. In 1900, Germany allowed women to take jobs without their husbands permission, but a German husband retained control of most of his wifes property except for her wages. With family law, after a divorce a husband could take children away from their mother and give them away to someone else. Women faced an educational barrier. They were had less access to education than men15. Most women were educated only enough for the domestic careers. University and professional education remained reserved for men16. School teaching at the elementary level became a professional haven for women. Most women became elementary school teachers, because they were looked apon as motherly figures. For the women who were married lived a less stressful life. The roles of a wife were werent too difficult. They became the product of a particular understanding of social life. When a woman got married, children would often follow. Middle-class women

13 14

Craig, 580. Craig, 575. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.

were largely in charge of the household, oversaw virtually all domestic management and childcare.