ipl-logo

The Lowell System Case Study

345 Words2 Pages

2. Technological developments increased the amount of product a factory could make and, in turn, increased the amount of labor that was needed for large factories, which led to women entering the workforce. Factories boomed due to the incoming industrial advancements, such as the loom, which came about in 1801. There was not a large enough amount of easily accessible manpower for these factories, as around ninety percent of Americans worked on farms. As farmers and their families began to head to the cities and other urban areas, the amount of workforce increased. Many factories hired entire families to work, allowing women to enter the work force. Factories, such as Lowell and Waltham, began to hire almost entirely young, unwed women. This system began to be called the Lowell System. These workforce changes affected how women were viewed from nurturer to a provider. However, some women worked when they were younger so that they could provide more using their income for their future children.
3. …show more content…

The decline of the Lowell System due to market booms and busts, as well as immigration, affected the women’s living conditions and wages, causing many women to leave the workforce. The economic revolution caused markets to boom, but as more companies entered and competition became harsh, busts would occur. This greatly affected how much money companies had to use towards repairs, wages, and management. Many busts occurred, forcing manufacturers to stop maintenance of high living standards and working conditions, while lowering the amount of pay, and increasing work hours. As the influx of immigrants increased, factories could now turn to them for a new source of labor. These immigrants were used to Europe’s factory conditions, which were unsafe and unsanitary. Factories in the United States did not have to pay these people as high of wages and did not have to maintain conditions as much as they did with the native-born

Show More
Related
824 Words | 4 Pages

Lowell Mills Girls According to the article “Power Looms. One Girl Works Four.” , women held nearly two-thirds of all textile jobs in Lowell, Massachusetts. Francis Cabot Lowell hired women, mostly from farm families, to work in the city for his textile factories.

Read More
912 Words | 4 Pages

Yafa writes about Boston businessmen who made Lowell, Massachusetts the first planned industrial community. The mills (factories) were built, and instead of using men to run the textile (fabrics) mills, the Boston Associates used “healthy, young, farm girls to work the mills.” Often the girls were very young and were separated from their families, lived in boarding houses, and saved some of their very low wages to send back home to their parents and to save up for their dowries (to give to future husbands).

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

The Lowell Mills had a big impact on the U.S. because women could work for the first time ever. The Lowell Mills hired young single women between the ages of 15 to 35 to work in the mills. The girls would work about 20 hours a week in the mills. One day the Lowell Mill Girls went on strike because they found out that the wages would be cut down the mills were shut down and the girls were no longer working in the Lowell Mills. Single women were chosen because they could be paid less than men.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

The Industrial Revolution was a point in the mid 1700’s where machine made goods were greatly increased in England. Women working in factories worked in outrageous working conditions, some even fatal. They had short breaks worked long hours and got little pay. The women that worked in the silk factories in Japan had all these cost, but they were just kind of worst. They not only had all this, but they also had unfair treatment.

Read More
1576 Words | 7 Pages

As a result, from 1860 to 1900 alone, the number of urban areas in the United States expanded fivefold (Source 2). The immigrants who desperately needed employment and the greed of factory owners made the rise of sweat shops astonishing. Around the country low-paid immigrants, including women and children, worked for excessively long

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

During the nineteenth century economic changes increased the amount of European industrial workers. Conditions under which they lived and worked improved along with the availability of jobs for women. Ultimately, the industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution lead to migration to cities for factory work. Theses changes in conditions for industrial workers were caused by the debate between government involvement in economics and if workers themselves have to take the initiative to create changes. English economists argue that the government should not get involved in helping the poor.

Read More
1045 Words | 5 Pages

The 19th century was the era of the Gilded Age, where the economy was booming, bringing great changes that affected the lives of workers and entrepreneurs. During this period, there was a large influx of immigrants that were coming to America to look for job opportunities. The migration of immigrants proved useful as a source for cheap labor, allowing an even higher rise in the U.S. economy. While American industrialization may have benefited the upper class of the American society, the effects were opposite to the workers of the lower classes. This problem was especially worse for immigrant workers as their belief in the so-called American dream has been worn down due to the misery they had to endure.

Read More
1295 Words | 6 Pages

The Market Revolution prompted the establishment of new social classes with the introduction of factories and increased immigration. Other social changes happened in the wake of growing cities and increased populations throughout the country. Immigrants and women experienced some of the most significant changes in societal acceptance during this period. Social constructs limiting women as domestic servants to the family melted away as families realized the need for additional income for the family (Sellers, 1991). Given most of society's poor opinion of their actions, immigrants' social status suffered.

Read More
1389 Words | 6 Pages

The country was improving public health, health care, as well as increasing labor protection and environment protection. Due to industrialization, factories became a very big part of the US economy. Factories created so many jobs, even children joined the workforce. This was a time like no other, entire families would have jobs. Workers, upset with big business owners began to try and improve their working conditions and created labor unions.

Read More
260 Words | 2 Pages

The Industrial Revolution brought many changes in production and trade farm fields for factories to America. It changed the landscape of the Northern states and the economy of the nation as a whole. One of these many changes included the mills where textiles were made. Young girls from across the country came to work in these mills to make just enough money for their families to survive. Sadly, these mills gave too many problems for these young girls.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

It also led to the involvement of child labor and people belonging to all genders. It was only after the Civil War that the nation’s railroads became extensive enough to distribute the excess product created by the industrialized factories across different regions. Between 1865 and 1920, industries began to industrialize with the advancements in technology. The result of industrialization was more economic activity aimed at distributing and selling the products.

Read More
553 Words | 3 Pages

The steam-powered loom and spinning machine allowed for mass production of textiles, which led to a decrease in the cost of production and an increase in the availability of textiles. This led to the growth of the textile industry and an increase in demand for textiles, which in turn led to the growth of other

Read More
1222 Words | 5 Pages

Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, America had experienced booming industrialization, urbanization and economic growth which brought about many technological advancements; this era was known as the Gilded age. Despite the technological accomplishments and economic success during the Gilded age, the wealth gained by industries was do to the unfair treatment of workers, by giving them long hours and paying them low wages, employers and owners kept most of the profit while workers suffered. As European immigrants began flooding the United States, in search for opportunity and to live the American dream, they settled in cities in search for jobs and communities to raise their families in but were faced with

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to the lifestyle and way work was completed for citizens of Britain between 1750 and 1900. Machines that provided effective, cheap and fast production of goods began to replace the jobs once held by people. This development effected many groups of workers, but especially those in the textile industry. The introduction of machinery had a significant impact on the lives of these industrial workers due to the low and high demand for goods, unfair wages and unhealthy and dangerous working conditions it inaugurated. The lives of industrial textile workers were significantly impacted by the Industrial Revolution.

Read More
1383 Words | 6 Pages

They did not know any better. Factory owners liked to use the women for work because they did not have to pay them as much as they would have to pay the men. Another element that helped transition the gender hierarchy was that the women were not independent. They were used to their domesticated lifestyle in the homes. The gender hierarchy that existed within the household transitioned to the workforce and the factories.

Read More

More about The Lowell System Case Study

Related Topics

Open Document