The labor and women’s movements challenged the nineteenth century meanings of American Freedom. The tragedy received widespread attention to dangerous conditions of the factories
There were significant divisions between the political and industrial wing of the labour movement after the government refused to introduce a price referendum. The industrial wing, according to Maclean, was furious, viewing the government’s actions as a “capitulation to business and the interests of the economic class”. But more practically, Scott argues that it cannot be overlooked that “men and women were feeling the pinch” of the poor economic conditions the war brought. The economy contracted 10% in the first year of war, unemployment rose, and, while the average weekly wage rose 12% for men and 8% for women, this never kept pace with the rate of inflation. Geoffrey Blainey writes these poor conditions caused the “trade unions to complain that workers were the economic victims of war”, with growing tensions seeing 2405 industrial disputes between 1914 – 1919, 1.7 million days lost to industrial action and strikes, and rowdy women-led cost of living strikes in Melbourne in 1917.
Women participated in the military services, got the education to work in skilled labour so that they did much better than before and received popular recognition step by step because of their own hard work. “You learn a lot from living in with a group of girls; we were all much enriched by the experience. Better people for it. You were not just yourself, you behaved, became party of something much bigger than yourself.” Sheila McClemans in Patsy Adam-Smith Australian Women at war said.
Many believed in the traditional idea that the workplace was for men only and used the refusal of recognition as a form of protest. Some women refused to go into the work force for this very reason. For those that did however, did so out of patriotism for the war and because of the lack of opportunity. There was a mix between the two. In the text, most women were there for lack of opportunity because they were high school dropouts.
This evoked a large response from a group of “working women” that were not willing to leave the workforce to resume their past roles as housewives, proving that women in this time wanted to work and gain a sense of personal independence . This was because it opened up many more opportunities in every aspect of their lives. This further developed Australia’s ultimate view on women, their ambitions and abilities.. As shown in the photograph of a protest in Sydney, Parliament House in 1972 ( a substantial amount of time after WW1) although women were being given the opportunity to work during WW1, they were still not being treated with equality in terms of pay etc; even after an extensive period of time after WW1. This caused women to protest constantly following WW1 and revealed the longing women had to contribute to the sustainability of Australia through working.
In 1939, no one thought that women, who weren 't even considered people decades before, would have such a massive impact in the Second World War. Canadian women 's contribution to the war effort, and their role at the home front and overseas had greatly increased since the previous, devastating First World War. The Second World War brought change to Canadian women on an unpredictable scale, though their volunteer work, paid labour force, and their contributions in the armed forces. Surely without the contributions made by the Canadian women, Canada and her allies would not have been as successful as they were. By far, the prime contribution made by Canadian women to the war effort came through their unpaid labour as volunteer work.
The workers gather to listen to several speakers over the five days near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company among those giving the speaks there was both a pled from those who discouraged violence and encourage the crowd to join together against the companies; however, this was also a pled from those who urge worked to take action of violent revolution. The Haymarket Riot turned into a violent event resulting in a controversy trial that supported the discrimination against union members. Perhaps the greatest lasting effect of the riot was that it created a widespread revulsion against union, which caused membership to decline and reduce union influence; because unions became lined to radical ideas and violence in the popular mind. (Avial,2011)
There were not many unions during this time making it harder for workers to fight to get what they want and to make their labor fair. Although there were many protests and groups organized to fight it, such as, the Pullman Strike, the first May Day, the Knights of Labor, and many haymarket protests. The Pullman Strike was a group of workers who protested against the recent reduction they had in their wages. This strike hurt the national rail service because they would not use the Pullman cars on the trains. The first May Day occurred on May 1st, 1886, this protest started because many workers wanted to work 8 hour days but instead worked unfair amount of hours in one day.
During the late 1800s, women made it clear that they wanted their equal rights. Women had no power compared to what men had. If women started looking like they had power, it was said that they started to look more masculine. Women began to fight back and attempt to reform the government. In this political cartoon, the artist shows his view of life before and after women were able to vote.
Nevertheless, a protest and unsuccessful strike of ‘Lowell Mill Girls’ in 1834 find a prominent place in the history of labor movement in the United States. Labor movements are also credited for their contribution to civil liberties. As per ACLU website, “Collective action is often necessary to protect individual rights. Unions by their nature facilitate and enhance the exercise of core civil liberties, such as the right of association, speech, and petition.” ACLU website further says that collective bargaining statutes take into account the economic reality that individual workers typically lack the bargaining power to stand up meaningfully for their individual
Women were well suited for providing nourishment and necessities for the army due to their skills obtained by their accustomed housework. “...the American army often recruited the many female camp followers to fill these jobs” (Brooks 2013, para. 17). They had slowly began to achieve recognition in society, especially war. It was then, that woman had begun to silently “protest” on having the same equal opportunity as men. During the war, women created a role for themselves to side amongst the male soldiers: a secret soldier.
After the police stopped several of these meeting the workers didn’t stop there, they started to publicly express the wrongs in these industries. Some of these actions would be creating small strikes, creating slogans heard everywhere like "Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!" or "Shortening the Hours Increase the Pay". , or even creating songs like "the Eight Hour Day". Soon after that the works started to arrange marches through the middle of down town. Nearly 100 thousand workers marched through the middle of down town chanting about the eight-hour day.
Problems like these angered the workers and caused labor unions to form. Some labor unions included the American Federation of Labor (AFL), or the Knights of Labor (KoL), which were the first two industrial labor unions. The industrial unions did more physical rebellion such as strikes or walk-outs, but both the industrial unions and the farmer unions were formed due to the people’s
In our society everyone wants to be living a good life where they won 't have regrets if they go on vacation and spend a little over their budget. Therefore, the strike was in favor of the poor getting a good life like in the quote where it also favors the poor. If
In the article it says that women entered jobs like engineering, other professions, and manufacturing jobs that many people believed that those jobs were too dangerous for women and women were too weak. In their jobs, women made airplanes, warships, munitions, and tanks working in technical and scientific fields. Also, after the war, women were still employed as secretaries, waitresses, or in other clerical jobs. This was often called the “pink collar” force. This article shows how sometimes women are given clerical jobs that show people underestimate the abilities of women.
