american women in the 1940's

            In the mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth century, industry in America was growing at an alarming rate. This growth brought about basic changes in the way things were produced and in the lives of those who produced them. It was the Civil War that first started to change industrial landscape of the nation. "More than a million dollars a day were spent on weapons, ammunition, machinery, clothing, boots, shoes, [and] canned goods" (Meltzer, 3). The high demand for so many different items brought bigger, newer and more efficient factories. The factories were producing cheaper products than the small, independent, hand-made specialists were. As a result of this industrialization a shoemaker, for example, no longer made the whole shoe. Instead the "new" shoemaker only made the heel, or shoelace. "Mass production left no place for the individual craftsman" (Meltzer, 4). The new assembly line organization had several side effects. One was condition for the workers. Factories often provided inadequate housing which lead to bad living conditions. The working conditions were usually dirty, uncomfortable, and unsafe. By 1900 nearly one out of every five in the labor force was a woman. Conditions for women and children were often much worse. "They [women] were used to hard work. In the home they put in 12 hours a day or more, cleaning, cooking, sewing, rearing children, and helping with the men's chores as well," (Foner, Women 8). Industry owners sent people to rural parts of the country to recruit women. They promised the women high wages, leisure hours, and silk dresses. Instead, the women worked 14 to 16 hours a day for an average wage of $1.56 a week. They received no silk dresses. "Some of the hands never touch their money from month's end to month's end. Once in two weeks is payday. A woman had then worked 122 hours. The corporation furnishes her house. There is rent to be paid; there are also the corporation stores from which she has been getting her food, coal and [other] cheap stuff on sale may tempt her to purchase.