Women Adrift Analysis

Barry Robertson

September 21st, 2015

History 4010

Dr. Fernández

Women Adrift Essay

Women Adrift by Joanne J. Meyerowitz portrays the life of women who had moved to Chicago between 1880-1930. Chicago provided many unique opportunities for women who had grown up across the United States in rural environments. The new economic sector of Chicago allowed for many people to find work and move from the outside country life, to the more urbanized metropolis that was Chicago. This also allowed for a new interdependence for women who had once lived in the country and journeyed away from the farms in hopes of finding work in Chicago. Meyerowitz’ Women Adrift helps capture the struggles of the women wage worker who often took a leap of faith leaving her home life in hopes of finding a new life in the great urban city of Chicago. Meyerowitz argues that Chicago provided new opportunities for women, dispelled the idea of the Victorian woman, and the exploitation of the women wage earners.

In the opening chapter of Women Adrift, Meyerowitz identifies some of the key factors that caused many women across the United States to move to work in big city centers like Chicago.

The first main reason for such migration is also the most obvious, employment. Chicago offered a multitude of jobs which varied from Dressmakers, Seamstresses, and Tailors in 1880 to Nurses, Laundresses, and Saleswoman in 1910. These new jobs allowed women to gain a freedom that they had not been able to achieve out in the countryside. Women could now be in control of their own money and livelihood without having to rely on their family. Employment was not the only reason however; some women were forced from their homes for sexual activity that the family deemed immoral. Some women also left their families in hopes of find a better life for

themselves.
The opportunities for women in Chicago increased greatly as the city became a larger. In the 1880’s many of the women in Chicago worked in the Needle trade which accounted for almost 48% of the total workforce. In 1910 we see a drastic change in the work force with the Needle trade decreasing to around 20% and other occupations like the Service and Clerical industry increasing. This allowed more and more women to find work in Chicago which increased the number of women willing to risk leaving the country side.
Early on in the 19th century, women were often seen as something needed cared for. Meyerowitz quotes many texts in which is shows women as people who needed protection from the city and the new independent lifestyle that Chicago awarded women. Meyerowitz writes “In promotional literature, annual reports, and national reform periodicals, they portrayed women adrift as endangered women in need of maternal protection.” This idea of “maternal protection” stems from the Victorian idea that women were not meant to be autonomous. This meant that they were often limited to the home life which identified that women were in charge of rearing children, taking care of the house, and cooking meals. This idea of the innocent women was applied early on in Chicago. Organizations like the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) were formed in hopes of separating the women adrift from the immorality of Chicago. One missionary by the name of Lucretia Boyd who was an early member of the YWCA said that she “became greatly distressed by the serious situation that confronted self-supporting girls” Groups like the YWCA and the Chicago Woman’s Club perpetuated the idea of the Victorian woman that was in need of protection in Chicago.
As more women poured into Chicago the idea of the Victorian woman in Chicago began to be challenged. Chicago allowed for a more open type of sexuality that was not as prominent in the country side. The anonymity of Chicago meant that women could be more openly sexual without being stigmatized by their peers. Some women found that they could actually use this to their advantage. The idea of using sexuality for economic gain became a practice that many women turned to when they could not make enough money in the factories. Meyerowitz writes “These women looked for short-term and immediate gain and did not necessarily seek the long-term economic benefits of marriage”. This directly challenged the idea that women needed to be a part of the family dynamic in order to thrive. Also women were now also able to afford to live outside of the family sphere altogether. Many women were able to live in large boarding houses which they paid rent on. This meant that women were now living outside the Victorian family model and allowed women a much greater independence that they had not once had.
Though employment for women in Chicago provided them new economic possibilities, many of the jobs available to them exploited the fact that they could be paid much less than their male counterparts. It was estimated that “women needed a minimum of eight to twelve dollars per week to cover her cost of living.” This minimum was not often met, many women earned far less than that. In an interview of twenty-four manufacturing industries women only made an average of $7.75 per week when men made an average of $13.92 a week. Many companies found that women should not be paid as much as men because they did not need to support themselves financially since that should be the job of her family, but for many women their wages were their only source of income.
This meant that many women had to find other ways to gain income or find ways to be more frugal. One way that women were able to save money was by joining the YWCA. Companies also started buying apartment buildings and renting it out to people that they employed. This type of housing environment took away the freedoms that women wished to gain once they had move to Chicago and made many women unhappy. Many women found that they had to move into these less than ideal living situations because they had no other choice and needed to find somewhere to stay that they could afford. This meant that companies often had control of their employee’s both inside and outside the work environment and made it very easy for women to have to rely on the company for almost all necessities.
Women Adrift was a very thorough study of the migration of women into the urban environment of Chicago. Meyerowitz was able to portray many of the different struggles that women faced in the urban climate. Her study of the women’s struggled helps highlight many of the key issues that frightened many people like the immorality of the larger cities. She also was able to clearly argue her thesis’s for each chapter with a great mix of information from many different sources. I found that Meyerowitz’ book was very informative and has greatly helped my understanding of the role of women early on in Chicago’s history.