During industrialization in America mill owners did all that they could to hire workers, especially young girls to come work at their mills, and doing so wasn't always the easiest thing. Unlike Britain, the U.S. didn't have an abundant supply of cheap labor, land was plentiful and people preferred life on the farms. Because of this lack of workers willing to come and work at the mills, industrialists look to change the way that manufacturing was viewed, they proved to families that there were many more positives of working at the mills than negatives. In order to do this the Lowell Experiment was created.
The Lowell Experiment was an industrial project that focused on the positives of industrialization, while trying to avoid the negative ones. This experiment was a system that would be used to convince girls to come to work at the mills, and it was based on a paternal system that emphasized that the girls would be protected and taken care of just like their own family would take of them. Many aspects of the mill life motivated girls to work in the Lowell mills, including , being able to earn their own money and pay for their own clothes, and having the independence of living away from home. However, just because the girl herself was convinced to work at the Lowell mills, that didn't mean that she was going to . The parents also had to be convinced to let their own daughter live away from home at the mills, and the Lowell Experiment did just that. The corporation set rules on the girls, making church mandatory, and giving them a curfew that must be obeyed, along with a code for behavior. By ensuring that the girls were going to be safe and taken care of like family, parents were often convinced to let their daughter’s work in the mills. Also, in the article, A World in Transition, it explains that because of industrialization, and the expansion of trade from new roads and canals, farmers were going out of business and woman were looking for work off the farm. Because of this families were willing to let their daughters work at the mills so that they could make money to send home to their families, and because the girls were being cared for, it meant that they would have one less mouth to feed.
Often times because of the successfulness of the Lowell Experiment girls would be sent to work at the mills, and along with that decision there were many costs and many benefits. Based on the video, Daughters of Free Men, some benefits that came out of working in the mills included, the opportunity for education, the money for the girls to buy their own clothing, and they got evenings and Sundays off from work. Also some costs of working in the mills that were evident in the film included, girls being unkind, cruel overseers, and the spread of gossip. There were false expectations when going to the mills that everyone would be kind and friendly. The working conditions of the mills were also some costs, for example, the mills were loud and the air was dusty, there was a high potential for injury, and they were malnourished, they had to sneak out of the mills just if they wanted a drink of water. Lastly, the fear of wage cuts, bells running their lives and having four to six girls in one room were some costs of working in the mills.
Many factors of industrialization, and opportunities for women, reflected the attitudes towards women during the 1800’s.The fact that mills were one of the only working opportunities outside of the farm shows that people didn't think that women were fit for laborious jobs and physical work. In the reading, A World in Transition, it shows that women didn't have as many rights as men at the time, and were not treated equally to men. Also, women were restricted from work after they got married, proving that they were thought to have the job of taking care of their families. Woman had started to be given more opportunities, but were still restricted to what they could do.
Overall, industrialization was a big turning point for woman, for they now had more opportunities to be independent and work outside of their homes, and off of the farms. The Lowell experiment made it possible for the families of the girls to realize this , and that sending their daughters to the mills was the right choice. It stressed that there were so many positives, even though there may have been some negative aspects, but the experiment worked, and many woman went to live their lives in the Lowell mills having opportunity to make their own living.
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