The Industrial Revolution saw thousands of women enter the workplace alongside men โ but it was far from emancipatory, writes Elinor Evans. Tasks such as fetching water, and tending livestock would have kept women as busy as clothing and feeding a family, while many also took other work into their home such as hand-spinning or weaving. As machines replaced individual labour and burgeoning industries needed coal, women became part of the growing working classes that laboured in mines and mills.
In the late 18th century, many families would seek employment together, with husband, wife and children all working at the same factory or pit, while for many single women, taking a job outside the home offered the chance of greater independence. But women were seen as less physically strong and skilled than men and were paid less.
Despite the disparity in pay, the conditions in many factories were no less dangerous for women. They could work as many as 80 hours in a week, were offered few breaks, and often served inedible food.
In , year- old Elizabeth Bentley was interviewed by a parliamentary investigation into conditions for textile workers. She described working in the card room of a flax mill near Leeds. I got so bad in health, that when I pulled the baskets down, I pulled my bones out of their places. Tasks such as cooking, cleaning and childcare still needed to be carried out. Perhaps unsurprisingly, few employers were understanding. Another common role was in the mines of Lancashire and Yorkshire, where women laboured underground alongside men in physically demanding roles until the midth century.
She told how the dual roles of having children and producing for a family came with immense hardship. Putting is no so oppressive; last child was born on Saturday morning, and I was at work on the Friday night. Pushing carts underground was hot work, and both young men and women would strip to the trousers in efforts to keep cool.
