The industrial revolution transformed western Europe and the United States during the course of the nineteenth century. This transformation enabled women to play active roles in the workforce. With this sudden change, women's traditional gender roles were being challenged. The movement of industrialization allowed for equal opportunity for all genders, and major improvements upon the economy.
Gender roles are sets of behavior and characteristics associated with men and women. The roles established during the Industrial Revolution then came to dominate the perceptions of men and women's abilities for years to come. Originally Women were occupied on the supervision of their children. However, because of their new jobs, women resorted from nurturing the children into working into hard labor work in the factory industry. It was not until the mid-20th century that these stereotypes were challenged.
During the industrialization, every member of the family was responsible to play an active role. Women were confined to the domestic sphere by caring for children and looking after the house. There were very few occupations for women outside the home, and even few opportunities for higher education. Women's work' consisted of domestic services, clothing and textile manufacturing. The Industrial Revolution then
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The realms of 'women's work' were expanded, and became more respected as a profession. Women had made significant contributions to the war efforts with confidence being boosted. Although many women returned to their traditional roles after the war, some women took advantage of the opportunities which emerged after the war, and sought out employment and legitimate careers. Taking advantage of economic independence, women began to play vital roles in the workforce during the revolution. More women fought for higher education and