The Industrial Revolution and Impact on Gender Roles and Worker/Labor Conditions, Thesis Paper Example

The industrial revolution had numerous impacts on the organization of work in the society. Most of these impacts were negative and were to be rectified by reformation that took place later. The industrial revolution was characterized by the mechanization of various industrial processes and development of factories. Many people migrated from the rural areas to cities to seek employment in industries in cities since the agricultural industry had declined. Worker were employed in large numbers and worked for six to seven days a week. As such the workers were engaged in tough work paced by the machines. The emergent of new organization of work lead to the development of clear distinctions between home and work ass opposed to earlier cottage industries which had no differentiation between home and the work place.  This development generated different experiences for both men and women (Classroom Lesson Series).

As a result of the developments, a lot of pressure was placed upon the men to participate in salaried work continuously outside home from adulthood upon retirement in order to provide for their families.  However older men refused to work in factories and opted to provide spot labor or work around home.  On the other side of the gender divide, a good number of women also participated in paid labor at factories in order to provide for their families. However, some engaged in paid child care, provided paid clean up services, cooking services and paid laundry services (Hudson).

Labor market opportunities for women during this time were however poor or limited. In the factories, women were paid much less than men. Consequently, these encouraged men to seek factory paid employment while women remained at home and performed non paid labor.

The discrimination between men and women was based on the physical abilities. Women were discriminated upon when it came to industrial work due to their assumed inferiority to men physically. For instance, women did not have the strength and ability to operate spinning mule for 12 hours every day. However, working class women during this period had to persevere physically demanding work. For instance, women in England were employed in agricultural sector to dig, gather, plant, weed, and harvest.  Furthermore some women worked in coal mines.

Evidently women were force by circumstances to take up hard jobs to supplement their families’ budgets. Women supplemented up to 39% of their total house hold budget.  Despite having worked out in the demanding industrial environment, the employed women still had to fulfill their domestic chores as the care takers of their home. This involved preparing meals for children and takes care of them (Galbi). This was not very easy considering that in this period women used to bear many children. Women used to leave their children with older relatives while going to work. Sometimes the children were left with the elderly members of the family.  Off course child rearing did not just come by, the women had to perform the child bearing first. As such the roles performed by women were very demanding while their income was vary low compared to their male counterparts. Their financial needs made the toil even during pregnancy and immediately after child birth. At the work place the men assumed supervisory roles over their female counterparts.

On the genera work conditions, there are numerous registered effects of industrial revolution. During this period, the present laws that govern work environment were not in existence. This subjected the industrial workers to the harassment and mistreatment by their employers who were the industrialists. The workers also worked in very dangerous environments. Workers had to endure long hours of continuous work in very dangerous environments. For instance workers working in the cotton industry worked for long hours in very hot environments. This heat was mainly a result of the steam engines that were used in most industries at this particular time.

Most machines used during this time were not guarded from workers. As a result the workers were exposed to the movable parts of these machines and many of them suffered injuries due to accidents (Galbi). Sadly, children were employed to move in between the machines as they were small enough to go through the machine especially in pace where the machines were congested. He long hours of work 12 hours or more made workers become sluggish thus exposing them to more danger. As a result of these poor working conditions, the mortality rate among the industrial wage workers was very high.

Despite then prevalence of such harsh condition in most industries, a few industrialist  such as Titus Salt and Robert Owen  who were regarded as good employers and referred to as reformist by many tries to improve the work conditions for laborers. The reformer managed to overcome resistance from other industrialists managed to push through various reforms that gradually gave rise to continuous improvement of work conditions to what they are today.  Generally women and men played different roles. Women suffered more since despite working they still had to perform domesticate chores. The work conditions, despite being tough and dangerous, had to be endured by children as young as eight years.

Works Cited

Galbi, Douglas A. Economic Change and Sex Discrimination in the Early English Cotton Factories. 8 March 1994. 13 April 2010.<http://www.galbithink.org/womwork.htm>

Hudson, Pat.women’s work.5, November 2009. 13, April 2010<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtml>

Classroom Lesson Series .The Plight of Women’s Work in the Early Industrial Revolution in England and Wales. 2010. 13 April 2010<http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/lesson7.html>