A Life Changing Decision

After the Industrial Revolution started, factories and mills began to be built everywhere.  And with every factory, there came employee openings that needed to be filled.  Boys were needed home to work on the farms, so girls were targeted more often to work at the mills.  In addition, owners of the factories didn't have to pay the girls as much money as they would have if they hired boys which was fiscally advantageous.  Girls were said to be more obedient than boys, which was another characteristic that attracted owners to recruit girls.  There was a lot of motivation for woman to go to work in the Lowell mills.  First, if girls went to work at the mills, they could help out their families with needed money.  This was a tremendous influence in Lucy’s decision to go to work in the Lowell Mills as we saw in the video, Daughters of Free Men.  Girls were also motivated to go to the Lowell mills because they could earn their own money, buy clothes and other luxury items, and they would be more independent.  Other benefits for girls were having more freedom, growing up and becoming an adult, meeting new people, making new friends, experiencing new things, and receiving an education.

     

         

As seen in this poster which depicts jobs being advertised at the Lowell Mills, the mills are depicted as clean and health places to send your daughters.  Natural landscape surrounds the mills and a girl is walking out of the mill carrying books and bags showing that she has time to gain an education and do other activities besides work.  These are all benefits that families and girls saw in going to the Lowell mills.

 Although there were a lot of benefits for girls to go to the Lowell Mills, there were also a lot of costs that came with the job.  Some costs were having to leave your family, the possibility of wage cuts and then not making enough money, and having to follow the strict rules that were enforced at the mills.  Also, the unhealthy and dangerous conditions were a high price to pay.  A girl’s long hair could get stuck in a machine and be pulled out or be scalped.  Factory accidents could lead to fatal injuries or death, the air in the mills was polluted, the machines were noisy which could affect your hearing, and the girls became malnourished due to the lack of proper nutrition.  Another huge cost was the possibility of being fired from your job and being blacklisted, which could stop you from obtaining another job in the future.

                These new opportunities for women and restrictions on their working lives reflects attitudes towards women during the 1800s.  The mill girls changed the perceptions of women.  Women were no longer restricted to only working at home because mill girls were good girls and society didn't look down upon them.  Before, if a woman worked outside of her home, she was looked down upon by society.  The mill girls broke this perception that if a girl were to leave her family it would be wrong.  Women were now perceived as educated citizens that were part of the working society.    Ultimately, some girls chose to not go back to the farm because it seemed wrong.  These women became activists and wrote about women’s rights and became involved in social movements.  Women now worked just as hard as men and people were starting to change their attitudes toward them and respect them more.