Industrial Revolution Dbq Essay

The nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in Europe marked a major turning point in European industry and production. Factories became the main source of production of goods, as a focus on agriculture decreased. Women began to work outside the home, performing the tasks they had done at home in the past now in factories, often under poor conditions for little pay. Women’s experiences in the factories of the Industrial Revolution served as a definite indication of a shift in European gender roles, through women’s transition from agriculture-related employment to working in factories, and the little pay they received, although men still expected women to care for the children and the home, as per the stereotypical gender standards of the time.

This disappointed the physiocrats, a group of people that had believed in the necessity of an economy based on agriculture, as people moved to factories, with few people still working on farms. Women, in particular, began to populate factories, as they could perform the menial work needed in order to maintain productivity. However, a clear lack of labor laws existed at the time, and these women almost always worked under terrible conditions. German journalists, part of an ideally truthful profession, reported that factory machines produced an exorbitant amount of dust, which the women inhaled in substantial quantities, as they were not permitted to open the windows (Doc 2). Furthermore, although women worked long hours, they received little pay for their efforts, as described by a British women’s right activist intending to highlight injustice (Doc 3). Women’s roles in factory life exemplified the shift away from agriculture work, and the increase in the number of women working outside of the home for little pay, acts brought about by the advent of the Industrial

A male factory employee familiar with his female coworkers noted that many women still had children at a young age, during their teenage years (Doc 4). Women also tended to have a large number of children, common when peasants worked on farms and needed as many bodies to help tend to the animals as they could get. However, since women now worked in an urban setting outside of the home, conflicts arose when they needed to care for young children. This led to small children being brought to work with their mothers, although this usually occurred with women working in fields, not factories, given the harmful environment of the factories (Doc 1). While women worked outside of the home and earned money for themselves and their families during the Industrial Revolution, they continued to have several children, and act as the prime caregiver, as they had prior to the