Ambahr Morales-Cuevas

Sara Islas
Sector 19
03 / 07 / 16
Issue Proposal Essay Final

Gender roles have been affecting how men and women compete for work since the
1980s. Since then, women have been told to work at home and take care of children,
while men went out to work in factories, alongside children, who worked in coal mines.
Women equality has been active in certain parts of the world ever since the Industrial
Revolution. Because women are judged based on their physical appearance, they arent
allowed to work in factories until the Industrial Revolution hit and men were sent off to
the war.
Women, because of the change in the laws, they were wired with more work outside the
home and inside as well. They were forced to work in factories, manage the textiles and
very easy parts of the factory, while coming home, were forced to clean the house,
make food for the children and husband and take care of the children. Home life
suffered as women were faced with the double burden of factory work followed by
domestic chores and child care. By then, women had taken over mens roles in the
factory while they were out in the war.
Factories were looking for more employees just as the men were sent off to war, and
the factories saw women and children as new workers who they could pay a lot less.
Because of their physical appearance and no learning from school (that was replaced
by work outside and inside the home), the owners of the companies were allowed to
pay them as much as they wanted. Their new pay, for women, was 79 percent of what
men made and for children (under 14 years of age) was 14 percent and (over 14 years
of age) was 84 percent. It was harsh especially because women were first put to work
on the textiles and from there, moved on to the harder work men used to do before
going off to war. The harsh reason was why they werent put to the work men used to
do. Women were treated unfairly due to stereotypes towards themselves and body
image.
I quote from the website Shwirk, Women's participation in the two world wars
challenged women's traditional gender roles. The realms of 'women's work' were
expanded. Women made significant contributions to the war efforts and confidence was
boosted. Although many women returned to their traditional roles after the war, some
women took advantage of the opportunities which emerged after the war, seeking
employment and careers.

This showed that, with men leaving, gave women more opportunity to work, not just
inside, but outside as well. After everything had happened (this was after WW1 and
WW2), women were given bigger positions in jobs and opportunities to work in higher
companies for more amounts of money.
After the Industrial Revolution, women campaigned against the government for issues,
such as Womens Suffrage, Equal Opportunities, and Equal Rights. This caused a
bigger spark for women to have more freedom to do the same things as men,
sometimes even more. Now, women are qualified for many jobs, with education
available for men, women and children.

WORKS CITED:
- http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-58_u-505_t-1368_c-5266/the-role-of-menand-women/act/sose-economy-and-society/industrial-revolution-societies-andchange/lasting-impacts-of-the-industrial-revolution
- http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childla
bor.html
- http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialR
evolution/IREffects.html#Families
- http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/12/
- http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/lesson7.html
- https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/jacksonlincoln/essays/women-and-early-industrial-revolution-united-states
- http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/womenandchildren.h
tm#.Vt25E1WrTnA
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