EUROPEAN FACTORY WORKERS: 1800-1930

1
EUROPEAN FACTORY WORKERS 1800-1930

• BY SYDNIE CHAVEZ
• PERIOD 3

2
FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• late 1700s to 1830s
• 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

• 1850s 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 1800s 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 womens 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 1800S
FULL WORKS CITED on this public google docs
(direct link https//docs.google.com/document/d/1E
gNWuu8pfr9SUDiLEtbZgAjSj4cU3lYWUFXCPNPvP3U/edit?pl
i1)
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