Australian Women In The 19th Century Essay

The changing attitudes in the late 19th century did not only affect women in the home, the effects of this societal shift were felt in the workplace were women obtained the ability to seek a career in fields previously available exclusively to men; in addition to this, the formation of female led unions had a significant impact on the lives of Australian women. During the 19th century any women present in the workplace were typically found in domestic areas while men primarily worked in labour based or white collar positions. Women also earned significantly less than men in workplace and, as was common at the time, worked long hours for an inadequate wage; however, the formation of women’s unions saw improvements in the workplace (Brookes, 1983, p.27). The Melbourne Tailoresses Strike in 1882 was directly responsible for an improvement in workplace conditions for women across the tailoring industry. The exact date of the strikes

The newly formed Tailoresses Union went on to successfully pressure the 13 largest manufacturing firms operating in Victoria into abiding by the proposed prices the women had decided upon alongside the Trades Hall Committee. This secured the same higher wages for hundreds of other women across the colony (Thornton, 2009, p.29). The strike and subsequent formation of a union was an almost entirely female led affair, assisted by the Age, a newspaper at the time, and the Trades Hall Committee. The incident was the largest scale female protest of the time period and paved the way for better wages and working conditions for women across the colony (Thornton, 2009,