Working Conditions During The Industrial Revolution

During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the employers’ abuse of power and their disregard of terrible working conditions resulted in the formation of trade unions, which challenged large corporations to improve rights for workers but only widened gender inequality in the workplace.

Industrialization during the Industrial Revolution worsened working conditions and rights of workers. “Children could tend most of the machines as well as older persons could, and they could be hired for less pay. Great numbers of them were worked from 12 to 14 hours a day under terrible conditions…Ill-fed and ill-clothed, they were sometimes driven under the lash of the overseer” (Hackett). The beginning of a new machinery and factory life created a higher

“Laissez-faire was the rule in England…Factory owners could therefore arrange working conditions in whatever way they pleased. Grave problems arose for the workers--problems of working hours, wages, unemployment, accidents, employment of women and children, and housing conditions” (Hackett). Factory owners had most control over their workplaces, so they naturally abused their power, resulting in long working hours, wages, etc. When workers began to realize the corrupt working system, they started to speak out against large corporations for rules that would prevent these problems in the future. "More often than not both government and society tended to side with industry. After all, the manufacturing sector, which had been transformed by machines, provided millions of jobs, increased trade revenues, and made a nation's overall economy strong. The needs and complaints of mostly impoverished workers, who had no voice, seemed secondary to the greater good” (Nardo 77). Workers saw that they needed band together, since government and society would always have a bias opinion and always side with large corporations. Their voices would only be heard as annoying complaints, but together they could hold much more voice and influence the employers. “Unions existed and exerted influence even when they were illegal. The Combination Acts must have had some effect on reducing union activity, though, since

“Unions desired to limit access to their trades, in order to reduce labour supply and increase their wage. Gender idealogy made women a natural target" (Burnette 244). The purpose of unions was to improve the lives of workers, and to improve it was to increase salary. To increase salary, unions sought to limit entrance into the occupation and targeting women eliminated a lot of competition. “"Male workers used gender ideology to argue that a woman's place was in the home, and that the male wage should be high enough to support his wife and children, that men should earn a "family wage” (Burnette 244) Women were targeted since they commonly stayed at home. These gender roles were argued to srike women out of trade unions, thus, leaving more opportunities to the men. "Thus unions of the Industrial Revolution did everything they could to exclude women from employment. The Bookbinders' Trade Society excluded women in 1810 because of these typically gender roles that were used. Barbara drake reports that women were initially allowed to be members of the Manchester Spinners' Union, then were excluded after 1818. In 1820, “the Glasgow mule spinners went on strike, demanding an end to the employment of women” (Burnette 245). More and more unions began to exclude women, as a plan to officially exclude them from all occupations, and present more jobs to men. As a result, trade unions only widened gender inequality in the