Women Making A Difference

Option 2: Explain what motivated women to go to work in the Lowell mills. What were the costs and benefits of their decision? How did opportunities for women and restrictions on their working lives reflect attitudes towards women during the 1800's?

During the era of the Industrial Revolution, most families faced social and economic hardships. Almost all families were below the poverty line, despite working long hours. Living conditions became so horrid during this time period that many families began to live in slums. The Lowell Experiment was developed to change the way that industrialization affected families during the 1800s. The Lowell Experiment was an industrial project that was established to avoid the negative aspects of industrialization. The Lowell Experiment was a method of recruitment used to persuade girls to come work at the factories.  As this project became more popular, more girls became part of this movement to support their families and earn more money to supplement their household incomes.

The Lowell Experiment persuaded families to allow their daughters to come and work at the Lowell mills by providing a stable working environment for the girls. Strict rules and behavior codes were enforced on the girls such as, going to church at ten o’clock on Sundays, receiving an education, and avoiding relationships with males while working in Lowell. The Lowell Experiment also provided a mother figure for this young work force. The mother figure, the boardinghouse keeper, would supervise the girls after their work in the boarding house. There was also a “paternal system” created similarly to 19^th century dynamic, which protected the women. The Lowell Experiment provided a “home-like” environment, which persuaded families to allow their daughters to work in Lowell. This experiment offered both benefits and disadvantages to the girls of Lowell and their families. The girls of Lowell were by benefited by earning their own money, getting the opportunity to buy their own clothes from the city, receiving an education, and gaining independence. However, the girls were rarely able to see their families, were prone to injuries in the mills, especially if they had long hair. In addition, the girls could be targets for unfair wage cuts in the mills and they had to follow strict behavior codes. Also, the girls had the possibility of becoming blacklisted if caught doing something bad. This mill status could cause girls to have a bad reputation and a hard time getting married. More importantly, possible health issues could result from the strenuous work. The girls’ families were benefited by receiving some of their daughters’ wages, while knowing that their daughters were being well cared for at the mills. Despite the financial benefits, the separation from family and potential injuries often overshadowed this gain.

According to A World In Transition, “Women had fewer rights than men...and life outside the family was almost impossible for women during these years.” Mills girls changed the common perception of women by working outside of the home, living away from their parents, being educated, writing for the public and taking part in labor reform.  Prior to the Lowell Experiment, girls were forced to stay at home, help take care of the family, and forgo an education. However, a boy’s wage remained significantly larger than that of a girl’s. This implied that men were still seen as superior to women both socially and economically. After working at the mills, around the age of twenty one, many women would go on as outspoken abolitionists and women’s rights activists. The Lowell Experience changed many families’ lifestyles and contributed to women’s rights.