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Women As Bread Winners Summary

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“Women as Bread Winners- The Error of the Age” was written by Edward O’Donnell in 1887 (Shi et al 28). I have no specific information about the area in which O’Donnell resided, but he was an American. He was a member of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which was founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers and was one of the most influential labor unions of the time (“Samuel Gompers and the AFL”). This organization aimed to support workers by implementing agreements between employers concerning pay, hours, and other work-related topics (“Samuel Gompers and the AFL”). O’Donnell was clearly very prejudiced towards women. He believed that they had no place in working traditionally male jobs (specifically craft jobs) and that their employment in such fields could destroy American families and ideals (Shi et al 28-29). As evidenced by his thoughts in this pamphlet, his ideal family consisted of a father who worked a craft job and a mother who either worked a feminine job or stayed at home to raise the children. …show more content…

Pamphlets are created to advertise something or to spread a certain belief. In its own time, this document was meant as a warning to working men that their jobs would be taken away and their families would be destroyed if women were allowed to work in craft jobs. The introduction refers to this pamphlet as a “hysterical” argument against allowing women to join unions (Shi et al 28). This author, O’Donnell, obviously feels threatened by women entering craft jobs, and his purpose was to persuade men to not hire women in craft jobs and to dissuade their female relatives from working these jobs. O’Donnell wanted to raise awareness about what he regarded as a pressing issue, just as we might write articles online today warning about global

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