Industrial labor was a central part of women's lives in the early
20th century. During the summer of 1907 New York City was hit by a economic
depression, and in most cases women had it worse than men.Women were not
content with their absurdly low wages and poor working conditions, and they
desired more from their lives than the daily grind. "These marginally
educated immigrant women wanted to be more than shop-floor drudges. They wanted
lives filled with beauty-- with friendships, books, art, music, dance, fresh
air, and clean water. 'A working girl is a human being' "(Orleck, Common
Sense and A Little Fire, 16). Why were women paid lower wages and placed in
dangerous work environments? Why were men always getting the better end of the
bargain? How could women possibly fight for better wages, hours, and
working conditions? And finally, how does this all matter into YOU, the reader,
and your day-to-day life?
In Annelise
Orleck's book Common Sense and A Little Fire, four women fought for the belief
that women deserved better working conditions: Fannia Cohn, Rose Schneiderman,
Pauline Newman, and Clara Lemlich Shavelson. These women are to be admired, as
they were rather uneducated, and they were at a large disadvantage, being both
immigrants and female. Their beliefs stemmed from a subconscious feminism, but
at the same time their beliefs challenged the current feminist view. During the
20th century, many women associated feminism with solely the women inside the
middle class and upper classes. These four women founded the idea of industrial
feminism. Industrial feminism was not upper-class exclusive like regular
feminism was at the time, in-fact it was a combination of unionism and
working-class activism. "Their brand of feminism was deeply imbued with
class consciousness and a vivid understanding of the harsh realities of
industrial labor"(Orleck, 6). What is industrial feminism exactly?
Schneiderman sums up the focus of industrial feminism quite simply in a
statement she made in 1911: " 'The woman worker wants bread,' Rose
Schneiderman said in 1911, 'but she wants roses too.' Shorter hours, higher
wages, safer working conditions, medical care, and decent
and affordable housing and food were the 'bread' for which industrial
feminists fought. Meaningful work, access to education and culture, and
egalitarian relationships were the roses"(Orleck, 6). As Schneiderman
stated, women needed more than just food and better wages; women want to live
their life and enjoy it, not exist merely to work day after day.
In order for these
lower class women to pursue their dreams, they had to create a large-scale
movement against their employment companies and their policies. These women had
to FIGHT for their right to have equal working conditions with men in the same
position. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire started; the fire killed 146 working women because they could not leave the building due to poor safety conditions. This fire was a tragic but brief message to the politicians and public people: safety in the workplace MUST be regulated or history will repeat itself. This fire was the spark that set off an explosion of activist activities. The
public was outraged at the poor safety conditions, and thus this incident was the perfect wake-up
call for lower class women to join movements such as the industrial feminists
and their associated group, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL). After this
horrible incident involving Triangle Shirtwaist, women could no longer wait for
change; they understood that they alone had to bring about change.
No activist
movement can make a difference unless they ACT upon their beliefs. Women began
striking out against unfair conditions, and the WTUL backed strikers all the
way, including some of the more famous strikes such as the “Rising of 20,000” shirtwaist workers in
1909-1910 and the “Bread and Roses” strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Ma
in 1912. While women may have won some struggles for better wages and
conditions, they had ultimately lost the war: “Their energy and passion had yielded extraordinary
results, illustrating what even a small group of activists can accomplish if
they are dedicated enough. Still, the women of the WTUL felt their failures
keenly on that day. The dream that the WTUL represented had come to an end not
with a bang but with a very quiet whimper” (Orleck, 266). The WTUL had failed for a few reasons, two of them being the Great Depression causing serious financial problems, and due to the government trying to associate the WTUL with Communism when the Red Scare arose in 1947. But even if the WTUL did fail in the end, there is still a
lesson to be learned from these industrial feminists, or perhaps we should call
them activists? If you want to make a difference in society, you must stand up
for your beliefs and refrain from remaining quiet when you have been wronged.
Now, you may read
this and think to yourself “How does this apply to MY life? Why should I care?”
I’ll tell you why you should care; women STILL don’t have equal wages when
compared to men in the same positions. Sure, there was an Equal Pay Act in
1963, but it has done little to balance out wages between men and women. Don’t
believe me?
Take a look at this:
This article is just a tiny fragment of evidence revealing that
women are STILL fighting for this dream that was realized in the early 20th
century. Groups such as the CLUW ( http://www.uaw.org/page/join-coalition-labor-union-women
) are still fighting for the “Bread and
Roses” that Industrial Feminists never truly reached. Do you want to do
something about it? Read up on the CLUW and do more research, join a labor
movement or support the cause simply by carrying what you learned from this
article with you. Perhaps someday in the near future, Fannia Cohn, Rose
Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, and Clara Lemlich Shavelson can finally rest
easy, knowing their dream of “Bread and Roses” has come true, thanks to the
continued support of men and women worldwide.
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