A Working Woman's Social Upheaval
The role of a woman in late eighteenth century England evolved when the industrial revolution started. Since many factories were blossoming over night, women were now encouraged to work in factories. Factory owners started hiring women for a number of reasons, one of them being that female wages were much lower than the male wages. But the working conditions within the factories were very unsuitable for women, the English coal pits being a primary example. What made the conditions in the coal pits so inappropriate for women was the fact that the people running the coal pits did not distinguish neither age or gender, so the work was assigned abruptly amongst the men and women. Men and women of all ages would work in the same vicinities and often times within close proximities in which they were both close to being fully naked; such conditions were leading to improper actions. The British Parliament was opposed to women working in these conditions so they came up with the Mines and Collieries Act 1842, which was presented in the Parliamentary Papers. This act revealed what was happening to the women while they worked in the coal pits. The British government’s opposition to the working conditions held in the factories was shown in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842, for it clearly expressed how having women of any age, work in such a close environment with other males could potentially lead to a working woman’s demoralization and overall social destruction.
Women had always worked, whether it was within the comfort of their home, being housewives, farming, or as maids in private homes, they always held some sort of occupation. It was not until the start of the Industrial Revolution that changed the way in which women worked, for they were now encouraged to work in a more industrial setting. Factories of all sorts were scouting women to work for them, but it was only for the factory’s benefit. The reasons being that women were paid much lower wages than that of a male’s, and because certain factories required small bodies to climb into cramped areas, and most women fit that category. Even though the progression of businesses produced a chain of job opportunities for the proletariat women, it also created a series of complications for the women working in the businesses, one of those businesses being the English coal pits.
The English coal pits were a rapid growing business during the industrial revolution. It was the growth in factories like that of Richard Arkwright and the inventions of James Watt, which increased the demand for coal and ultimately the demand for workers (“Coal Mines in Industrial Revolution”). The coal pits did not discriminate against gender or age, therefore men and women of all ages were hired, thus creating a series of problems. One of the problems was that women were assigned the same amount of labor and work hours as the male workers. The issue with this situation was that the women and young females working these long hours and harsh labor had a life outside of their work that they were unable to attend to. The overseers did not take into consideration the fact that the working women could have been mothers that needed to look after her young or that the adolescent workers were in the middle of becoming young ladies and were being surrounded by all types of men. But the coal pit overseers no longer viewed the female workers as women; they basically stripped them of their gender roles and categorized them as a labor machines. Aside from the women being worked to death without being acknowledged as females, they started to dress like their male colleagues. “‘One of the most disgusting sights 1 have ever seen was that of young females, dressed liked boys in trousers, crawling on all fours…’” (“Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”) The tone of voice in this statement clearly illustrates the British Parliament’s feeling of concern towards the issue of having females dress like the male workers. They obviously felt that the mixing of genders within the workplace was leading to more than what anyone had ever expected, it was one of the leading steps to the destruction of female’s image and morality.
The working environments within the English coal pits were often filled with intimate physical contact amongst men and women. Men and women of all ages performed the same labor that required them to work in the same vicinity, which created a great deal of body-to-body interaction (“Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”). The constant interaction of bodies amongst the genders was producing an abundance of impurities amongst the female workers. As the Parliamentary Papers points out, “In great numbers of the coalpits in this district men work in a state of perfect nakedness, and are in this state assisted in their labour by females of all ages, from ages six years old to women of twenty-one, these females being themselves quite naked down to the waist.” By having the men and women work in a setting where the female herself was close to being fully naked, created a sense of provocation with the male workers. Many times the females assisted the males in the coal pits, which could have created a more intimate barrier between them. The implications that came along with this issue produced an uneasy feeling within the British Parliament. They ultimately feared that the male colleagues were performing sexual acts against the female workers, assuming that the females were pure, they would take advantage of them and strip them of their virtue. By having the women be demoralized posed a threat to the society, for it created a trend of prostitution within the workingwomen.
The implications presented by the parliamentary papers opened the door to the hidden society of prostitution that was happening in the midst of the industrial revolution. The act of prostitution was essentially derived from the acts of the awful working conditions like the ones presented in the English coal pits. As Coressel points out in her essay, The Madonna and the Whore, the long hours combined with low pay in the industrial jobs were some of the factors leading to the workingwomen’s demoralization, for it directly led them to prostitution (Pg. 4). The workingwomen during this point in time were looking to escape the shackles of the horrendous working conditions and poverty, so they found prostitution to be the most simple and effective way of gaining economic stability.
Having men and women work in such close areas was the overall principal cause to a workingwomen’s loss of virtue. The evidence presented in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842 shows how the grouping of genders in the work place was causing the acts of sexual intimacies between the male and female colleagues, which effectively hurt the female’s self-image and virtue. Having women without any sort of moral pureness would have ultimately led to an imminent society full of immoral values. This seemed to imply the reasons as to why the British Parliament came up with the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. They feared a society filled with a large group of demoralized women because it would potentially lead to social upheaval. Although the advancement of the industrial revolution in Britain created countless job opportunities for the proletariat, its succession also brought upon a string of social destruction. The workingwomen were no longer acknowledged as females but rather working mechanisms. But the overall information implied in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842 opened the door to a life hidden under the succession of the industrial revolution, with the workingwomen’s image and virtue presented at the center of its obstruction.
The role of a woman in late eighteenth century England evolved when the industrial revolution started. Since many factories were blossoming over night, women were now encouraged to work in factories. Factory owners started hiring women for a number of reasons, one of them being that female wages were much lower than the male wages. But the working conditions within the factories were very unsuitable for women, the English coal pits being a primary example. What made the conditions in the coal pits so inappropriate for women was the fact that the people running the coal pits did not distinguish neither age or gender, so the work was assigned abruptly amongst the men and women. Men and women of all ages would work in the same vicinities and often times within close proximities in which they were both close to being fully naked; such conditions were leading to improper actions. The British Parliament was opposed to women working in these conditions so they came up with the Mines and Collieries Act 1842, which was presented in the Parliamentary Papers. This act revealed what was happening to the women while they worked in the coal pits. The British government’s opposition to the working conditions held in the factories was shown in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842, for it clearly expressed how having women of any age, work in such a close environment with other males could potentially lead to a working woman’s demoralization and overall social destruction.
Women had always worked, whether it was within the comfort of their home, being housewives, farming, or as maids in private homes, they always held some sort of occupation. It was not until the start of the Industrial Revolution that changed the way in which women worked, for they were now encouraged to work in a more industrial setting. Factories of all sorts were scouting women to work for them, but it was only for the factory’s benefit. The reasons being that women were paid much lower wages than that of a male’s, and because certain factories required small bodies to climb into cramped areas, and most women fit that category. Even though the progression of businesses produced a chain of job opportunities for the proletariat women, it also created a series of complications for the women working in the businesses, one of those businesses being the English coal pits.
The English coal pits were a rapid growing business during the industrial revolution. It was the growth in factories like that of Richard Arkwright and the inventions of James Watt, which increased the demand for coal and ultimately the demand for workers (“Coal Mines in Industrial Revolution”). The coal pits did not discriminate against gender or age, therefore men and women of all ages were hired, thus creating a series of problems. One of the problems was that women were assigned the same amount of labor and work hours as the male workers. The issue with this situation was that the women and young females working these long hours and harsh labor had a life outside of their work that they were unable to attend to. The overseers did not take into consideration the fact that the working women could have been mothers that needed to look after her young or that the adolescent workers were in the middle of becoming young ladies and were being surrounded by all types of men. But the coal pit overseers no longer viewed the female workers as women; they basically stripped them of their gender roles and categorized them as a labor machines. Aside from the women being worked to death without being acknowledged as females, they started to dress like their male colleagues. “‘One of the most disgusting sights 1 have ever seen was that of young females, dressed liked boys in trousers, crawling on all fours…’” (“Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”) The tone of voice in this statement clearly illustrates the British Parliament’s feeling of concern towards the issue of having females dress like the male workers. They obviously felt that the mixing of genders within the workplace was leading to more than what anyone had ever expected, it was one of the leading steps to the destruction of female’s image and morality.
The working environments within the English coal pits were often filled with intimate physical contact amongst men and women. Men and women of all ages performed the same labor that required them to work in the same vicinity, which created a great deal of body-to-body interaction (“Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”). The constant interaction of bodies amongst the genders was producing an abundance of impurities amongst the female workers. As the Parliamentary Papers points out, “In great numbers of the coalpits in this district men work in a state of perfect nakedness, and are in this state assisted in their labour by females of all ages, from ages six years old to women of twenty-one, these females being themselves quite naked down to the waist.” By having the men and women work in a setting where the female herself was close to being fully naked, created a sense of provocation with the male workers. Many times the females assisted the males in the coal pits, which could have created a more intimate barrier between them. The implications that came along with this issue produced an uneasy feeling within the British Parliament. They ultimately feared that the male colleagues were performing sexual acts against the female workers, assuming that the females were pure, they would take advantage of them and strip them of their virtue. By having the women be demoralized posed a threat to the society, for it created a trend of prostitution within the workingwomen.
The implications presented by the parliamentary papers opened the door to the hidden society of prostitution that was happening in the midst of the industrial revolution. The act of prostitution was essentially derived from the acts of the awful working conditions like the ones presented in the English coal pits. As Coressel points out in her essay, The Madonna and the Whore, the long hours combined with low pay in the industrial jobs were some of the factors leading to the workingwomen’s demoralization, for it directly led them to prostitution (Pg. 4). The workingwomen during this point in time were looking to escape the shackles of the horrendous working conditions and poverty, so they found prostitution to be the most simple and effective way of gaining economic stability.
Having men and women work in such close areas was the overall principal cause to a workingwomen’s loss of virtue. The evidence presented in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842 shows how the grouping of genders in the work place was causing the acts of sexual intimacies between the male and female colleagues, which effectively hurt the female’s self-image and virtue. Having women without any sort of moral pureness would have ultimately led to an imminent society full of immoral values. This seemed to imply the reasons as to why the British Parliament came up with the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. They feared a society filled with a large group of demoralized women because it would potentially lead to social upheaval. Although the advancement of the industrial revolution in Britain created countless job opportunities for the proletariat, its succession also brought upon a string of social destruction. The workingwomen were no longer acknowledged as females but rather working mechanisms. But the overall information implied in the Mines and Collieries Act 1842 opened the door to a life hidden under the succession of the industrial revolution, with the workingwomen’s image and virtue presented at the center of its obstruction.
Bibliography
“Women Miners in the English Coal Pits.” Parliamentary Papers. Internet Modern
History Sourcebook (Website). Edited by Paul Halsall at Fordham University.
Originally published in 1842, re-published on Internet Modern History
Sourcebook in July 1998. Web. Accessed 7 March 2014.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1842womenminers.asp
Corressel, Patti. “The Madonna and the Whore:
The Victorian Wife and the Victorian Prostitute, a Collision of Virtue and Vice.” Lourdes College. 2011. Web. Accessed 14 April 2014. http://www.lourdes.edu/portals/0/files/academics/artssciences/history/online_narrative_history/onhj11/pdf/madonna_whore.pdf
“Coal Mines in the Industrial Revolution.” History Learning Cite. Web. Accessed 26
April 2014. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coal_mines_industrial_revolution.htm
History Sourcebook (Website). Edited by Paul Halsall at Fordham University.
Originally published in 1842, re-published on Internet Modern History
Sourcebook in July 1998. Web. Accessed 7 March 2014.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1842womenminers.asp
Corressel, Patti. “The Madonna and the Whore:
The Victorian Wife and the Victorian Prostitute, a Collision of Virtue and Vice.” Lourdes College. 2011. Web. Accessed 14 April 2014. http://www.lourdes.edu/portals/0/files/academics/artssciences/history/online_narrative_history/onhj11/pdf/madonna_whore.pdf
“Coal Mines in the Industrial Revolution.” History Learning Cite. Web. Accessed 26
April 2014. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coal_mines_industrial_revolution.htm
Primary Source: Women Miners in the English Coal Pits
This primary source was produced in 1842 and was most likely published in the areas mentioned, Yorkshire or Lancashire. The author of this primary source was probably someone that worked for the British Parliament, for it is a part of the Great Britain’s Parliamentary papers. This primary source seems to be an account that contains brief information about what women, during that time, were exposed to within their work environment, more specifically the English coal pits. This source also contains testimonies from the women working the coal pits. The audience of this account was most likely for the bourgeoisie. This account was probably made to raise awareness for the harsh working conditions that the women had to endure. This source gives a lot of insight about the women’s working conditions, which have helped the audience understand what they had to go through. It was probably made to influence the bourgeoisie to better the working conditions for women during the industrial revolution. This source clearly reveals the mistreatment of the lower classes. During this time it seemed as though the proletariat were not seen as actual human beings but rather working machines. They were treated like work machines that did not have any life outside from their work place. The men and women were treated in similar ways within the work environment and were both exposed to the same things. For the most part, the work environment did not present a sense of gender discrimination. Overall this source helps us understand how affective the industrial revolution was to the working class people. This also source tells us a lot about the industrial revolution’s social hierarchy and how mistreated the proletariat were.
My focal point was on the first three paragraphs of Parliamentary Papers because it presents a variety of valid points as to how a women was being demoralized.
My focal point was on the first three paragraphs of Parliamentary Papers because it presents a variety of valid points as to how a women was being demoralized.
The picture above shows one of the reason as to why women were hired to work in the coal pits. Since women were usually smaller than males, they hired women to perform certain tasks, like the one shown above.
This image is an illustration of how women were stripped of their female roles as they worked in the coal pits. The females working in the coal pits were starting to assimilate to their male colleagues by dressing like them. By having women now dress as males was a step towards a women's demoralization; they were no longer presenting themselves as women.
The image above shows a female miner working in a perfect state of nakedness. By having women work in such a state when they are surrounded by males that are potentially working in a similar or equal form of nakedness created a sense of provocation amongst the workers. This could provoke a feeling of sexual tension between the two genders, thus leading to a female's loss of virtue.
The illustration above is an obvious indication of how the working class women were losing their virtue. If men and women were both working in such a close environment, as shown above, then it is evident that sexual acts were often performed, which was ultimately leading to a workingwomen's demoralization; this is what the Mines and Collieries Act 1842 argued, they wanted to prevent women from working in such environments because it was stripping them of their morals.