EUROPEAN FACTORY WORKERS: 1800-1930

1. EUROPEAN FACTORY WORKERS: 1800-1930 • BY: SYDNIE CHAVEZ • PERIOD 3

2. FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION • late 1700’s to 1830’s • steam power • utilized effectively by James Watt in 1778 • textile industry boomed • introduction of chemical dyes • the use of machine tools such as the • milling machine: used to cut wood, developed in 1829 • the employment of factory workers made all of this possible CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW A MILLING MACHINE WORKS

3. FACTORY WORKERS • men, women, and young children from the lower class were employed • factory workers often worked for 16 or more hours with little breaks • wages were around 1 or 2 dollars a day • the standard of living was extremely low, most families had around 8 or more children, many of whom did not survive to adult hood LEARN MORE ABOUT WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION READ MORE ABOUT THE LIVES OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

4. CONDITIONS OF FACTORY WORKERS • the conditions in factories during the First Industrial Revolution were horrible • workers were beaten if they were late, fell asleep on the job, or if they did not do the job right • there are some accounts of children who are late having ropes with heavy weights tied around their necks and paraded around the factory to set an example • people were overworked and often physically injured themselves working • child workers often died or hurt themselves while attempting to work heavy machinery • many women also lost children while working in the factories due to the harsh conditions and inadequate pay, making it impossible to get enough nutritious food

5. SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION • 1850’s to 1914 • also known as the Technological Revolution • new ways to organize factories were introduced, such as the production line • 1855: the Bessemer process which contributed to the mass production of steel products • applied chemistry and thermodynamics to new inventions • engines and turbines were improved upon • 1876: internal combustion engine, also known as the Otto engine MORE ABOUT THE BESSEMER PROCESS MORE ABOUT THE OTTO ENGINE

6. LABOR LAWS • Labor Laws were more greatly enforced during the later half of the First Industrial Revolution, and for the majority of the Second Industrial Revolution • child labor laws • Factory Act of 1833read more about the Factory act of 1833 • children 9 to 13 years old could only work 8 hours • children under 9 years old could not work • Ten Hours Bill of 1847 • women and children could work no more than 10 hours a day MORE ABOUT THE TEN HOURS BILL OF 1847

7. WOMEN WORKERS • most women worked in the textile industry and in coal mines • families depended on the extra wages earned by women • women became more independent and had more of a chance at mobility because they were able to make their own money • however, it was hardly enough, though by the late 19th century the standard of living for women did go up due to the increased enforcement of Labor Laws • working women also did not have access to an extended education, they were taught through churches or through people at the factories they worked at • most people agree, though, that the Industrial Revolution helped advance views towards women in the long run LEARN MORE ABOUT WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

8. FACTORY WORKERS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR • the majority of factory workers during the First World War were women • World War I completely changed European society and the views it once held • the sanitation in factories improved and complex production lines were implemented to produce as much as possible • many women who were factory workers left to become nurses, greatly increasing the demand for workers • with men off at war women were able to dominate the industries of mass production

9. VIEWS TOWARDS WOMEN • women often shamed men into going to war • they decided to join the workforce not only to change their lives, but to show patriotism towards their country • the women had to take on roles they had never been in before • in Britain and France many women joined the workforce • Germany: less women joined the workforce because they were seen by men as unable to do the same jobs • some men still opposed to women in the workforce, still claiming that they belonged doing only domestic things • women were given more respect and had more self-respect as they were able to provide for themselves and provide for their country as well • after the end of World War I women found more jobs available to them, however, they were often replaced by men who returned back from the war • in 1920 the women labor force was 2% less than it had been before the war • women's suffrage movements and feminist movements were more popular, and successful, after the war, when women were more independent and seen as no longer just domestic figures A letter from the president of the London and Provincial Union of Licensed Vehicle Workers protesting women workers

10. SUMMARY • conditions at the beginning of the industrial period in Europe were horrible • wages were low and people often died very young due to accidents in the factories • with the enactment of Labor Laws conditions began to improve • Child Labor Laws limited the amount of time children could work, and the treatment towards them • by the late 1800’s the standard of living for factory workers had greatly improved • during the First World War women were the primary industrial workers • the conditions in factories had greatly improved and factories were better organized • views towards women in society and women in the work force were liberated as the work women did for the cause of the war was respectable • these views eventually led to women’s suffrage movements and movements towards equality

11. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES PLUS WORKS CITED READ A REPORT OF A FACTORY VISIT IN BRITAIN PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ABOUT SEAMSTRESSES IN THE 1800’S FULL WORKS CITED: on this public google docs(direct link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EgNWuu8pfr9SUDiLEtbZgAjSj4cU3lYWUFXCPNPvP3U/edit?pli=1) PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ABOUT COAL MINERS IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ABOUT TEXTILE WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DOCUMENTARY ON THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN