Essay On Measl Leonora Barry

The female wage earners were often white, young, and unmarried. Most young women would expect to spend their money on things that are enticing to them (makeup, clothing, etc.). However, they were expected to contribute to their households with sharing their wages. They were not permitted to spend their paychecks frivolously and expected to pitch in to help with their families’ costs. Though there were 3.6 million women working in nonagricultural jobs, their pay was a “third to half of the pay for men” (Dubois, 295). The female wage earners typically earned a “per piece” paycheck (as opposed to men who were paid by the hour). Women typically made an average of $10 per week at the beginning of the Civil War, and by 1865 they were down to making only $5 per week (Dubois, 296). The type of work that the young women did remain largely domestic, but the industrial and production lines of work were growing quickly. “The industrial manufacture of clothing depended on the invention of the sewing machine, one of the most consequential technological developments in U.S. women’s history” (Dubois, 296). This was a “boom time” for manufacturing. Female participation changed from a

She was among some of the very first women who organized rights for female wage earners. Barry was considered a devoted women’s advocate and headed the Knights of Labor for two years, before resigning for what is assumed due to her frustrations associated with equality and timidity among women. Her belief was that women were meant to be homemakers and that their husbands were to be the head of household/wage earners. However, with the economy the way it was then, she supported women in the workplace, and furthermore, recommended that women be paid a fair wage, and were treated equally to that of men. She was once quoted as saying, “There can be no separation or distinction of wage workers on account of sex […]” (Dubois,