Industrial Societies
An industrial society is one in which factory or mechanized production has replaced agriculture as the majordomo of economic activity. As societies industrialize, the status of women tends to decline further. Industrialization in the noted States created a gap between the unpaid work performed by women at home and the paid work that increasingly was performed by men and unmarried girls (Mott and Matthias, 1996). When families needed extra money, their daughters worked in the textile mills until hey married. In 1900, for example, 22 percent of single white women who had been born in the United States were in the paid labor force. Because factory work was 110th compatible with child-care responsibilities, only 3 percent of married women were so employed, and only when they were extremely poor (Mott and Matthias, 1996). As it became more difficult to make a living by inning, many men found work in the factories, where their primary responsibility was often supervising the work of women and children. Men began to press for a clear division between “men’s work” and “women’s work;’ as well as corresponding pay differentials (higher for men, lower for women) .
In the United States, the division of labor between men and women in the middle and upper classes became much more distinct with industrialization. The men were responsible for being “breadwinners”, the women were seen as “homemakers.” In this new “cult of domesticity” (also referred to as the “cult of true womanhood”), the home became a private, personal sphere in which omen created a haven for the family. 10se who supported the cult of domesticity argued that women were the natural keepers of he domestic sphere and that children were the mother’s responsibility. Meanwhile, the “breadwinner” role placed enormous pressures on men to support their families-being a good provider was considered to be a sign of manhood (Mott and Matthias, 996). However. this rendered division of labor increased the economic and political subordination of women. As a. result, many white women focused their efforts on acquiring a husband who was capable of bringing home a good wage. Single women ND widows and their children tended to live a bleak existence, crowded into run-down areas f cities, where they were often unable to support themselves on their meager wages.
The cult of true womanhood not only increased white women’, dependence on men but also became a source of discrimination gains women of color, based on both their race aim the fact that many of them hat! to work in order to survive. Employed, irking-class white women were similarly stereotyped at the same time that they became more economically dependent on their husbands because their wages were so much lower.
As people moved from a rural, agricultural lifestyle to an urban existence, body consciousness increased. People who worked in offices often became sedentary and exhibited physical deterioration from their lack of activity. As gymnasiums were built to fight his lack of physical fitness, a new image of masculinity developed. Whereas the “burly farmer” or “robust workman” had previously been the idealized image of masculinity, now the middle-class man who exercised and lifted weights came to embody h: .leak (Klein, 1993). In the late nineteenth CEO :y, middle-class women started to become preoccupied with body fitness. As industrialization progressed and food became more plentiful, the social symbolism of body weight and size changed. Previously, it ad been considered a sign of high status As people moved from a rural, agricultural lifestyle to an urban existence, body consciousness increased. People who worked in offices often became sedentary and exhibited physical deterioration from their ack of activity. As gymnasiums were built to fight this lack of physical fitness, a new image of masculinity y developed. Whereas the burly farmer” or “robust workman” had previously been the idealized image of masculinity, now the middle-class man who exercised and lifted weights came to embody the .leal (Klein, 1993). In the late nineteenth CEO :y, middle-class women started to come preoccupied with body fitness. As industrialization progressed and food became more plentiful, the social symbolism of body weight and size changed. Previously, it had been considered a sign of high status
