Ricardo Sanchez Mr. Rodahl A.P. U.S.

History January 22nd, 2012

Women of Lowell

Mill owners recruited young, single women from rural New England to work at the factory town; they were then known as the Women of Lowell. To please the women's parents, they built dormitories, libraries, and provided boardinghouse matrons to supervise the morality of the workers. Throughout the years, it was greatly debated whether the women of Lowell were to be classified as workers or slaves. Prior to my opinion, i believe the women of Lowell were to be considered as workers and had a liberty of 7 on a scale of 1-10. They weren't completely free but also they didn't fall under the extreme of slavery. The Women of Lowell were primarily offered many amenities. They were allowed to forge their own magazine called the Lowell Offering. The magazine was nominally dependent of the mills. Also, the women earned significantly more money compared

with farm labor and domestic service; which were the two most common occupations for single women. The women had the opportunity to make friends with their co-workers and socialize among each other Most importantly, the Women of Lowell, had the right to enjoy some free time away from the factories where they would be able to socialize and pursue cultural and educational opportunities that were not available in small home towns. While socializing, some would meet wealthy men who would later turn out to get married to them. All these perks the women of Lowell had were exclusive in a way and had many benefits. The houses were attractive to the eye and offered a better life to women than what they previously had. The Women of Lowell's liberty was limited, not completely free, but the liberty was exchanged with better pay and with a wide variety of social opportunities.