Women Working Outside the Home in the USA by the 1860s:

 Women Working Outside the Home in the USA by the 1860s: 

The 1860s marked a significant shift in the roles and opportunities available to women in the United States. For much of early American history, women were largely confined to domestic roles, responsible for managing households, raising children, and supporting their husbands. However, by the mid-19th century, several social, economic, and political changes began to open new pathways for women to enter the workforce. These changes would lay the foundation for the women's labor movements and societal transformations that followed. The Civil War, industrialization, urbanization, and the evolving educational opportunities for women all contributed to this dramatic shift. This essay examines the factors that led women to work outside the home by the 1860s, the types of jobs they took on, and the long-term implications of this societal change.

Factors Leading to Women Entering the Workforce

Industrialization and Urbanization

The advent of industrialization in the early 19th century played a key role in shifting the nature of work in America. Factories and industries, particularly in the North, began to flourish, and these industries needed labor. The textile mills in places like Lowell, Massachusetts, were among the first to employ women in significant numbers. By the 1830s and 1840s, "mill girls," primarily young, unmarried women from rural areas, had become a familiar sight in these factories.

Industrialization did more than just create new job opportunities; it also shifted the location of work. While many families had previously worked together in agricultural settings or small-scale home-based production (like weaving or sewing), industrialization moved work outside the home and into factories. This created a demand for wage labor and separated the workplace from the domestic sphere, making it more acceptable for women to enter this new, waged economy.

Impact of the Civil War

The Civil War (1861–1865) had a profound impact on women's work. As men left their homes to fight, many women had to take over traditionally male responsibilities both at home and in the workforce. In the North, women filled positions left vacant by men in factories, shops, and even offices. Women also began working in government roles, particularly in clerical positions that emerged with the growing bureaucratic needs of the war effort.

Women in the South faced different circumstances. With the collapse of the Confederacy and the devastation of the Southern economy, many Southern women—particularly widows and those from formerly wealthy families—were forced to seek work to support themselves. This further expanded the types of jobs women entered, although much of this labor was low-wage and precarious.

Education and Changing Social Attitudes

Education also began to play a key role in women’s transition to the workforce. The Second Great Awakening (1790s–1840s) and the accompanying rise of evangelical Protestantism emphasized the moral superiority of women and their role as moral educators. This philosophy helped fuel the spread of public education and the feminization of the teaching profession by the 1850s. The expansion of schooling created a growing need for teachers, and the job was seen as an extension of women’s domestic roles. Teaching became one of the first respected professions for middle-class women outside the home.

In addition, the women's rights movement, spearheaded by figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, began challenging traditional gender norms and advocating for greater educational and economic opportunities for women. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 had called for women’s equality in various spheres of life, and though progress was slow, these ideas began to take root, influencing social attitudes toward women's work.

Types of Jobs Women Took On

Factory Work

By the 1860s, a growing number of women worked in factories, especially in the textile industry. In factories like those in Lowell, Massachusetts, young women worked long hours in difficult conditions. Many of these women were drawn to factory work as a means of gaining independence or contributing to their family’s income. However, the wages were low, and the work was often repetitive and hazardous.

Teaching

Teaching had become one of the few professional roles considered respectable for women. Women were seen as natural educators, capable of imparting moral values to children. While the teaching profession offered women some degree of independence and respectability, it also reinforced traditional gender roles, as women were often paid significantly less than their male counterparts and were expected to leave the profession upon marriage.

Nursing

The Civil War opened the door for women to serve as nurses, both formally and informally. Figures like Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross, and Dorothea Dix played prominent roles in organizing women to care for wounded soldiers. Nursing, like teaching, was seen as an extension of women’s nurturing roles, but it also allowed women to step into public life in unprecedented ways.

Clerical Work

In the 1860s, the rise of clerical work, especially in government, provided another avenue for women to work outside the home. The expansion of bureaucracy during and after the Civil War created a demand for clerical labor, and women, seen as being meticulous and organized, were often employed as typists, secretaries, and clerks. This was one of the earliest instances of women moving into office-based work, a trend that would grow significantly in the coming decades.

Challenges and Resistance

While the 1860s saw significant increases in women working outside the home, this shift was not without challenges. Women who worked outside the home faced societal resistance, as prevailing ideologies of the time continued to stress the importance of domesticity and women's primary role as caretakers. Factory work, in particular, was often seen as degrading, and many women were subjected to harsh working conditions and exploitation.

Moreover, working-class women faced significant economic hardship. While they might have entered the workforce in larger numbers, the wages they earned were typically insufficient to support a family. In many cases, women’s earnings were seen as supplementary to the male breadwinner’s income, reinforcing the idea that women’s work was less valuable.

Long-Term Implications

The emergence of women in the workforce in the 1860s set the stage for the broader labor and women’s rights movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Women's participation in the workforce during the Civil War, combined with the growing acceptance of women in professions like teaching and nursing, challenged traditional gender roles and began to change societal expectations. By the early 20th century, women's labor activism and suffrage movements would build on the foundations laid in the 1860s, eventually leading to greater economic and political rights for women.

The 1860s marked a turning point in the history of women’s labor in the United States. Industrialization, the Civil War, and changing social attitudes toward education and gender roles all contributed to a gradual acceptance of women working outside the home. While women continued to face significant challenges and societal resistance, their entry into the workforce during this period laid the groundwork for the broader transformations that would follow. As women moved into factory work, teaching, nursing, and clerical positions, they began to claim a more active role in public life and the economy, setting the stage for the labor and feminist movements of the 20th century.

Bibliography

Books:

Cott, Nancy F. The Bonds of Womanhood: "Woman's Sphere" in New England, 1780-1835. Yale University Press, 1977.

Evans, Sara M. Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. Free Press, 1989.

Gamber, Wendy. The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860–1930. University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Ginzberg, Lori D. Women and the Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States. Yale University Press, 1990.

Kessler-Harris, Alice. Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States. Oxford University Press, 1982.

Lerner, Gerda. The Woman in American History. Addison-Wesley, 1971.

McMillen, Sally G. Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. Knopf, 1982.

Articles:

Boydston, Jeanne. "To Earn Her Daily Bread: Housework and Antebellum Working-Class Subsistence." Radical History Review, vol. 35, 1986, pp. 7-25.

Dudden, Faye E. "The Rise of Domestic Service in Urban America." The American Historical Review, vol. 90, no. 5, 1985, pp. 1093-1117.

Kessler-Harris, Alice. "Where Are the Organized Women Workers?" Feminist Studies, vol. 3, no. 1/2, 1975, pp. 92-110.

Schwalm, Leslie A. "A Hard Fight for We: Women’s Transition from Slavery to Freedom in South Carolina." The Journal of Women’s History, vol. 1, no. 1, 1989, pp. 11-14.

Scharf, Lois. "The Ladies' War Workers: American Women in Transition." The Historian, vol. 37, no. 1, 1974, pp. 51-70.

Stansell, Christine. "Women, Children, and Wage Labor: New York City, 1900-1860." Feminist Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 1982, pp. 235-270.

Tilly, Louise A., and Joan W. Scott. "Women’s Work and the Family in Nineteenth-Century Europe." Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 17, no. 1, 1975, pp. 36-64.

USA Women Fight To Vote - 19th Amendment

In colonial British America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their wives served them, how their children were raised, family religious questions, & had the final say in all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19C, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality, while man’s sphere was becoming the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were becoming interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property & earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, & ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy & difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation & protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, & practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.

Beginning in the 1800s, women organized, petitioned, & picketed to win the right to vote, but it took them decades to accomplish their purpose. Between 1878, when the amendment was 1st introduced in Congress, & August 18, 1920, when it was ratified, champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly, but strategies for achieving their goal varied. 

Some pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state - 9 western states adopted woman suffrage legislation by 1912. Others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts. Some suffragists used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, & hunger strikes. Often supporters met fierce resistance. Male opponents heckled, jailed, & sometimes physically abused them.

By 1916, almost all of the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment. When the state of New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917 & President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift.

On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment, & 2 weeks later, the Senate followed. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, the amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification on August 26, 1920, hopefully changing the face of the American electorate forever.

The campaign for woman suffrage was long, difficult, & sometimes dramatic; yet ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. Decades of struggle to include African Americans & other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century because of discriminatory state voting laws.Transcript

See The National Archives

Sixty-sixth Congress of the United States of America; At the First Session,

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the nineteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and nineteen.

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislature of three-fourths of the several States.

"ARTICLE 

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. 

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Clerical Worker - 19C US Womens Work

In 1885, a young, single, white, native-born woman named Isabel Wallace did something that was still considered quite unusual in its time; she took a job as a clerical worker in Chicago.  Isabel, who lived with her mother and apparently needed to help supplement the small family's income, took a temporary position as a copyist in an office in Chicago, where her uncle already worked. (Copyists copied letters & other important documents into large ledger books in the era before typewriters, carbon paper, & photocopying.) 

Even though Isabel was grateful for the job, she expressed some anxiety writing to her mother. "The desks are comfortable, the chairs, etc. light, good, and the room well heated," & "there seemed a pleasant set of ladies," but, "I felt like somebody else all day. Out of my element and sphere somehow. It made me feel less womanly and somehow as if I was doing something I didn't approve of. I suppose it's because it's in the Court House and in an office."

Throughout much of the19C the image of a clerk was a man. But, by the end of the 19C century in large cities like Chicago this association began to change & young women like Isabel Wallace were in part responsible. When Isabel Wallace penned these lines to her mother, she probably did not realize that she was a pioneer & that her painful & tentative steps into the office would help not only to change office work into woman's work, but also initiate a transformation of urban spaces in cities like Chicago, making the city more accommodating to women's daily presence. Young women like Isabel Wallace helped to open up an array of office jobs to women workers, & woman's work in the city, for better or for worse, would never be the same.

In Isabel's day, office work was very different than we think of it today, especially because it was still primarily a man's job. Before the widespread use of the typewriter (during the 1890s) & its association with stenography, most office workers were copyists, file clerks, & bookkeepers. In 1880 in Chicago, almost 90 percent of the 1,120 office workers listed in the census were male. The huge increase in the number of Cgicago office workers between 1880 & 1890 (from 1,120 to 41, 015), due to the creation of the position stenographer/typist, doubled women's percentage of the office work labor force to 21 percent. And this started an unstoppable trend. By 1920, the number of office workers in the city approached 200,000, with women comprising half of the labor force.   See The Office Northern Illinois University 

In 1863. Virginia Panny wrote that stenographers are employed to write from dictation, generally by authors. Prescott, who was nearly blind for several years, employed one or more. Editors whose papers have an extensive circulation, sometimes require the services of an amanuensis. 

Female secretaries, or writers out of books, were not unusual in Rome. "Origen," says Eusebius, "had not only young men, but young women to transcribe his works, which they did with peculiar neatness." 

Some persons in London (whose employment, perhaps, scarcely brings them under this title, yet we know not where else to place them) make it a business to write letters for beggars, for which they are paid a small sum by each applicant. 

Stenographers or office workers are usually employed by the week, month, or year. Some education is of course necessary, and will doubtless influence their pay. Experience increases their value still more; and those who have to exercise their brains, are of course best paid. 

I have been told by competent authority, that amanuenses are usually paid according to agreement; that authors of distinction can afford to pay a good price, and that the most common salary is $600.

See The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work by Virginia Panny Published Boston, MA. by Walker, Wise & Company. 1863

1856 Gentility for Proper American Ladies

 
The Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility etc. By Emily Thornwell (New York: Derby & Jackson, Published 1856) 

Etiquette Lesson #1: Gait & Carriage

A lady ought to adopt a modest & intentionally measured gait; too great hurry can injure the grace which ought to characterize her. She should not turn her head on one side & on the other, especially in large towns or cities, where this bad habit seems to be an invitation to the impertinent. A lady should not present herself alone in a library, or a museum, unless to study, or work as an artist.

A Gentlemen’s attendance. – After twilight, a young lady would not be conducting herself in a becoming manner, by walking alone unescorted; & if she passes the evening with anyone, she ought, beforehand, to provide someone to come for her at a stated hour; but if this is not practicable, she should politely ask of the person whom she is visiting, to permit a servant to accompany her for safety.

In riding, the gentleman’s first duty is to provide a gentle horse, properly caparisoned. After seeing that the girths are all tightened, he leads the lady to the horse. With her back to the horse, she takes hold of the horn of the saddle, & the reins with her right hand, & places her left foot upon the shoulder of the gentleman, who stoops before her, making a stirrup for her of his clasped hands.

Raising himself up to his feet gently, the lady is able to be placed securely in the horse’s saddle. The gentleman puts her foot in the stirrup, adjusts her dress, mounts his own horse & takes his position, usually on the right, but authorities differ, & many prefer the left. In dismounting, the lady, having lifted her foot from the stirrup, may be received in the gentleman’s arms.

Etiquette Lesson #2 – Attention to Others

When you are passing in the street, & happen to see coming towards you a person of your acquaintance, whether they be a lady or an elderly person, you should always offer them the wall, that is to say, the side next to the houses. If a carriage should happen to stop, in such a manner as to leave only a narrow passage between it & the houses, beware of elbowing & rudely crowding the passengers, with a view to get by more expeditiously; wait your turn, & if any one of the persons before mentioned comes up, you should edge up to the wall, in order to give them the place. They also, as they pass, should bow politely to you in return.

Etiquette Lesson #3 – Never Use Your Knife

A lady should never use their knife to convey your food to your mouth, under any circumstance; it is unnecessary & glaringly vulgar to the eye. Feed yourself with a fork or spoon, nothing else; a knife is only to be used for cutting the food. The knife & fork should not be held upright in the hands, but always sloping; when done, lay them parallel to each other upon the plate. When you eat, bend the body a little toward your plate in a polite manner; do not gnaw bones at the table, always use your napkin before & after drinking.

Etiquette Lesson #4 – Decorum at The Table

It is ridiculous to make a display of your napkin; to attach it with pins to your bosom, or to pass it through your button; to use a fork in eating soup; to ask for meat instead of beef; for poultry instead of chicken; to turn up your cuffs in carving; to take bread, even when it is within your reach, instead of calling upon the servant; to cut with a knife your bread which should be broken by the hand, & to pour coffee into the saucer to cool. In conversation, be careful not to speak while eating a mouthful; it is indecorous in the extreme.

Etiquette Lesson #5 – How to Address Young Gentlemen

Do not be tempted to indulge in feminine indecorum, which may be countenanced, but can never be sanctioned by example; that of addressing young gentlemen of your acquaintance, who are unconnected [i.e., unrelated], by their christian names. It opens the way to unpleasant familiarities on their part, more effectually than you can well imagine, unless you have been taught the painful lesson by the imprudence of a friend. Any evident intention to display familiarity with them, will be more intolerable than absolute ignorance.

A lady’s influence in conversation.–Every woman whose heart & mind have been properly regulated, is capable of exerting a most salutary influence over the gentlemen with whom she associates; & this fact has been acknowledged by the best & wisest of all men, & seldom has it ever been disputed, except by those whose capacities for observation have been perverted by adverse circumstances. Always seek to converse with gentlemen into whose society you may be introduced, with a dignified modesty & simplicity, which will effectually check on their part any attempt at familiarity . . . .You may with propriety accept such delicate attentions as polished & refined men are desirous of paying, but never solicit them, or appear to be expecting them.

Etiquette Lesson #6 – Lady’s Proper Attire

Ladies’ morning attire.–The most appropriate morning dress for a lady upon first rising is a small muslin cap & loose robe. It is not in good taste for a lady to appear at the table in the morning without being laced at all; it gives an air of untidiness to the whole appearance. The hair papers which cannot be removed on rising (because the hair would not keep in curl till evening), should be concealed under a bandeau of lace . . . .

In this dress we can receive only intimate friends, or persons who call upon urgent or indispensable business; even then we should offer some apology for it. To neglect to take off this morning dress as soon as possible is to expose one’s self to embarrassments often very painful, & to the appearance of a want of education.

Morning Dress: A closely fitting morning-dress of plain cashmere, sleeves short at the wrist to display the full puff of muslin around the hand. A row of gimp embroidery from the hem of the skirt to the throat. Small collar of embroidered muslin, & cap of lace & ribbon.

Every one knows that whatever be the fortune of a young lady, her dress ought always, in form as well as ornaments, to exhibit less of a recherché appearance, & should be less showy than that of married ladies. Costly cashmeres, very rich furs, & diamonds, as well as many other brilliant ornaments, are to be forbidden a young lady; & those who act in defiance of these rational marks of propriety make us believe that they are possessed of an unrestrained love of luxury, & deprive themselves of the pleasure of receiving those ornaments from the hand of the man of their choice at some future day.

Walking Dress: for sociable calls, of plain stone colored merino; a short cloak of ture satin, trimmed with fringe; drawn casing bonnet of dark-green silk.

Etiquette Lesson #7 – Raising the Dress & Proper Behavior

When tripping over the pavement, a lady should gracefully raise her dress a little above her ankle. With the right hand, she should hold together the folds of her gown, & draw them towards the right side. To raise the dress on both sides, & with both hands, is absolutely vulgar. This ungraceful practice can only be tolerated for a few simple moments, when the mud is very deep.

Etiquette Lesson #8 – Bad habits in the highest degree displeasing

To look steadily at anyone, especially if you are a lady & are speaking to a gentleman; to turn the head frequently on one side & the other during conversation; to balance yourself upon your chair; to bend forward; to strike your hands upon your knees; to hold one of your knees between your hands locked together; to cross your legs; to extend your feet on the andirons; to admire yourself with complacency in a glass; to adjust, in an affected manner, your cravat, hair, dress, or handkerchief; to remain without gloves; to fold carefully your shawl, instead of throwing it with graceful negligence upon a table; to fret about a hat which you have just left off; to laugh immoderately; to place your hand upon the person with whom you are conversing…

To take him by the buttons, the collar of his cloak, the cuffs, the waist, & so forth; to seize any person by the waist or arm, or to touch their person; to roll the eyes or to raise them with affectation; to take snuff from the box of your neighbor, or to offer it to strangers, especially to ladies; to play continually with your chain or fan; to beat time with the feet & hands; to whirl round a chair with your hand; to shake with your feet the chair of your neighbor; to rub your face or your hands; wink your eyes; shrug up your shoulders; stamp your feet, & so forth.

Etiquette Lesson #9 – Speaking to Your Husband

A lady should not ever say “my husband,” except among intimates; in every other case she should always address him by his name, calling him “Mr.” It is equally proper, except on occasions of ceremony, & while she is quite young, to designate him by his christian name. Never use the initial of a person’s name to designate him; as “Mr. P.,” “Mr. L.,” etc. Nothing is so odious as to hear a lady speak of her husband, or, indeed, anyone else, as “Mr. B.”

How a lady should be spoken of by her husband. – It is equally improper for a gentleman to say “my wife,” except among very intimate friends; he should mention her as “Mrs. So-&-so.” When in private, the expression “my dear,” or merely the christian name, is considered in accordance with the best usage among the more refined.

Etiquette Lesson #10 – Requisites to Female Beauty

Exercise is unquestionably one of the very best means for the preservation of health; but its real importance is unknown, or but too lightly considered by the majority of females. Were they, however, to be made fully sensible of its extraordinary power in preserving the vigor of the body, in augmenting its capability to resist disease, in promoting its symmetrical development, in improving the freshness & brilliancy of the complexion, as well as its influence in prolonging the charms of beauty to an advanced age, they would shake off the prejudices by which they have been so long enthralled, & not voluntarily abandon means so completely within their power, & so simple, of enhancing all their physical perfections.

But let it be recollected, that to produce its beneficial effects, exercise must be taken in the open air. Not all the occupations appertaining to the domestic duties of a female, though they may require her to bustle from garret to cellar, will impart the kind of action to the different portions of the body by which her health & beauty shall be essentially improved.