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Breadgiver: The Struggle Of Women In Society

1523 Words7 Pages

Paula Jackson
History 2010
John O’Keefe
2/22/16
The Struggles of Females in Society In the book Breadgivers there seems to be an issue on how women are looked upon in the society. It is very interesting how Reb Smolinsky, the father, viewed women and their roles in not only in the society but in the family. Sara Smolinsky, the main character, struggles as a female in her family and society on many different levels. Information from chapter 18 of Documents for America’s History and information in chapter 18 of Give Me Liberty will help support my claims. In Breadgivers, the Smolinsky family moves to America. They struggle to make ends meet. For the women in the house it is hard to find work, to keep food on the table. One of the sisters, …show more content…

Sara sold fish and made .25 cents a day sometimes .50 cents earning up to 3 dollars a week. “The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire and its aftermath also highlighted how traditional gender roles were changing as women took on new responsibilities in the workplace.” 3 A lot of immigrant women had to start working so they could afford rent, food, and other necessities. If women had a lazy husband like Reb that could cause them to have to start working along with their children, “At the time more than 2 million children under the age of fifteen worked for wages.” 3 All of the children in the Smolinsky family worked. And this is when their education to a halt if you were in a poor family because you then had to help support your family. But someone like Fania, one of Reb’s daughters worked during the day and with to a night school in the …show more content…

The way they were introduced to the workforce and still were expected to do to the house work while the men were owners of stores or did nothing. Such a Reb, he expects to live like a king while his wife and own children are trying for work, paying rent, and figuring out where to get their next meal. He never earned to live the best in the house, and to think he was greedy enough to take from his daughters, their education, food, space in the home, and their futures is preposterous. The women of this time went through and lost so much to be treated the way they were after they went into the workforce, cooked, paid bills, and some even put their futures on hold just to make sure family was getting what they

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