Labor Conditions in the Early Industrial Revolution

In "Women, Work, and Protest in the Early Lowell Mills," author Thomas Dublin gives the reader insight into the working life and its elements in the early industrial revolution by using the story of the Lowell Mill girls. It was a time when America was undergoing the transformation from an agricultural based country to a powerful industrialized nation.

Unlike today's stereotypes of men holding the more strenuous factory jobs, in that day, women occupied them. Because most of the women were between the ages of 15 and 30, the majority of them were unmarried and just now leaving their homes. The factory managers knew this, and as a result, boarding houses were created specifically for these women. The majority of the Lowell workers lived in them, therefore, they were almost constantly in the company of their coworkers. This caused a strong sense of worker community. In their free time, many simply spent their time with their roommates and other boarding house tenants. This was the beginning of a chain reaction.

In the Lowell factories, work was not very easy. In fact, it was quiet dangerous. The women did not just have one task; they held many. They may have held one certain duty, but for many different machines. In addition, because women had so much to do and worked such long days, they often became extremely fatigued. Both of these factors heightened the health risks of the factory work.

To the women's standards, at times, many accepted their pay as adequate because it paid for their living quarters and they still had some money left for saving. Unfortunately for them,

the factories were extremely efficient, therefore they overproduced, causing the value of the fabric they made to decrease. The managers then decided to lower wages. Obviously, this made the women angry. This is where the benefits of their sense of community come into play. They would come to depend on each other to reach their goals.