Industrial Revolution: Feminism

  • Francis C. Lowell Establishes his First Mills

    Francis Cabot Lowell first establishes the Mills - textile factories powered by water - in 1813, and soon employs mostly women between the ages of 15-35
  • Lowell Factory Girls Association Established

    In response to the Ten Hours Movement, women who worked in the mills created an organization to protest their terrible conditions. They staged a walk out of 2,500 women (because their boardinghouses, organized by the Mills, were overcharging them). After several months, the girls succeeded and their boardinghouse costs were reduced.
  • Great British Mines Act of 1842

    Banned women and children from going down and working in mines
  • Great British Factory Act of 1844

    Limits the working hours of women to ten hours in all situations
  • Great British Factory Act of 1847 (10 Hours Act)

    **Restricts the hours of women and children to ten hours
  • Lowell Female Labor Association Established

    Another organization is established to try and restrict the hours of labor. Led by organizer Mary Emerson, it lasted for two years.
  • Seneca Falls Convention

    First women's rights convention in the United States. Declared that they were anti-slavery and calling for the right for women to vote.
  • U.S. Women Gain the Right to Control Their Earnings

    **But only in NY and Maryland, and only if they were married
  • U.S. Women Gain Equal Rights to Children If Divorced

    **But only in Illinois and Massachusetts
  • Great British Married Women's Property Act of 1870

    Allowed women to legally own the money and property they had earned (Previously, any money would've gone to the husband)
  • Susan. B Anthony Arrested for Voting

    Susan B. Anthony, women's rights activist, attempted to vote in the 1872 election. She was arrested and fined, which she never paid.
  • French Women Granted Right to a Bank Account

  • Great British Factory Act of 1891

    Prohibits factory owners from forcing women to work immediately after giving birth (4 weeks)
  • "March of the Mill Children" & Mother Jones

    "Mother Jones," a labor activist, helped children stage a walkout of mills to protest their working conditions, which included harmed hands and disabilities caused by the mills.
  • Creation of the Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)

    The first major organization in Britain, organized by Emmeline Pankhurst, which was involved in direct action against the government.
  • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

    In New York City, a factory that was packed with people - particularly women - caught fire. 146 people (123 of them female) died. They could not escape because the doors and exits were all blocked to keep people inside while working (and to keep them from taking breaks). This led to reformed labor laws to protect the workers.
  • WWI Begins - Women Turn to Factory Work

    Women replace men at home in the jobs that were needed (factory workers, firefighters, police officers, etc.)
  • Jeannette Rankin is the first woman elected to U.S. Congress

  • Great British Women get Partial Voting Rights

    Women could vote at 30 if they owned property or graduated from a UK university (men could vote at 21 no matter what)
  • WWI Ends - Women Cut out Of Work Force

    Women were thrown out of the work force, and if they stayed, it was determined that women should NOT make as much as men even though they did the same jobs, because it was the mans job to support the family.
  • 19th Amendment Passes - Women* Get the Right to Vote

    In the US, the 19th Amendment passed after nearly 100 years of work on it. The amendment, however, did not fully give the right to vote - minority women were kept out, especially Native American and Black women.
  • British women win full voting rights

    No qualifications!
  • Equal Pay Act, USA, enacted

    Prohibits discrimination in wages - must be equal pay for equal work within the same workplace.
  • Equal Opportunity Credit Act, USA

    Gives women the right to open their own credit cards in the United States