In the late nineteenth century many new jobs became available to women. These jobs were mainly in the domestic services; these jobs usually were things like servants and cooks. In 1851 there were just over 1 million people in the domestic service although by 1901 the number had increased to 2 million.
Men considered it disrespectful to send their wives out to work but sometimes the working class people had no choice. Job opportunities for the working class involved a lot of hard labour or they were very poorly paid. One of the most poorly paid jobs was pea shelling in convent garden. The most common jobs were maids and cooks, ‘going into service; cooks were paid more as it was a more skilful job. Some women gave up their jobs and became housewives when they were married, although others did both jobs. In the north of England factories opened and many women worked here, sweated trades, these factories made hats and dresses. Women in general were paid a lot less than men. Before 1950 there were few nurses, these occupations were for people that had been refused elsewhere. They were paid poorly so on off duty hours they were prostitutes or got drunk.
Middle class women had better jobs than the working class, they had office jobs, were shop assistants or housewives (when they were married). For the skilled workers living standards were rising, this meant people wanted better goods. The department store opened this met the demand. Women were employed at department stores because they could be paid lower wages. This opened another job for the middle class women. Many women found it better going to work in the department stores then going into service. Another job that had opened for the middle class women was operating the telephone switchboards (when they opened). The first telephone exchange was in 1879. The typewriter was also invented, men believed that women were better at this sort of work than themselves. From letting women start doing these jobs it was then easier for women to get other office jobs. By 1900 there were 100,000 women employed in Britain as shorthand typists and secretaries.
Before the 1870’s there was no organised system for teaching. In the 1880’s a system was set up for young ladies to train to be future teachers. Universities and training departments were set up across the country. Day courses were run so people who could not pay for university could go to the courses. There were also a few universities set up for secondary school teachers. Not many people went onto secondary school, it was expensive to send your child to a secondary school. After 1850 new medical equipment was brought for the hospitals, this meant they needed people that would understand the new equipment. This new equipment meant that many of the old nurses were sacked. Florence Nightingale was one of the first people to set up a school to train nurses. She wanted people to respect nurses and to get rid of the old image. The school she set up was called The Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas’, London. Another scheme set up was the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute. Members of this could organise there own time as they worked with the community.
The upper class women either went to university to train to be doctors or for further education or they stayed at home. No upper class women did jobs as they did not have to, the men always did the hard jobs and earned lots of money therefore there was no need for these women to go to work.
In the1851 census it was shown that half of all women in Britain were in paid work and two thirds of these woman supported themselves. This shows that the job opportunities for women had increased and better jobs were available. Women went from agricultural work to factory work or even to department store work. The amount of women now working had risen this had then increased the amount of women who wanted to be independent.
Lauren Pluss 10G
