millinery shop
Telephone switchboard operator
Women railroad wipers
Women railroad wipers
Farm Women With fowl
War Changes Maytag Products
Nurse Saves Lives in Europe
Military Police Woman
Woman Builds Aircraft
Farm Chores
Farm Women
Woman in Defense PlantWorking Women
Iowa
women have always worked, but in the early nineteenth century women's work
was largely confined to the home and farm. The traditional role for a woman
was that of a wife and mother. From dawn to dusk she cooked, cleaned, sewed
and took care of children. To earn extra money she sold eggs, butter, baked
goods and chickens. Yet, before 1860 census records did not list homemakers
as "gainfully employed." Because these women did not earn wages,
their efforts were not considered "work."
Women As Cooks
Women made most of their meals from '' scratch." Preparing food took a long time. In the mid-1800s meals were cooked in an iron kettle over a log fire and baked in an outside oven made of bricks. Afterward the coals were removed and the heat that remained in the oven was used for baking pies, bread and cakes. Women roasted chickens, broiled squirrels and baked corn cakes over hot ashes.
Clothing Chores
Women also spent a great deal of
time making clothing for their families. Ready-made clothing was scarce and
expensive to buy. It took a great deal of material to make a dress in those
days since the skirts were long and very full. Men's shirts had to be made
also. Not all women had a sewing machine, so some sewed clothing by hand.
Washing clothes was no easy task either. Without running water many women
carried buckets of water from outdoor wells to their homes where they filled
large tubs. Clothes were often boiled on the stove, rinsed in cold water,
wrung out by hand or machine, and hung to dry. Women used heavy irons that
were heated on stove tops. Soap was usually made every spring by the women.
In between household chores it wasn't unusual for women to take care of the
sick. There were few doctors in rural areas. Using herbs, home remedies and
new patent medicines, women cared for their families the best they could.
On the Farm
Farm
women had additional chores. They planted and tended the garden, took care
of chickens, picked and preserved fresh berries, canned grapes, made cheese,
husked corn and cooked extra meals for threshers. To earn money some farm
women churned and sold butter,
trimmed hats and raised and sold poultry. Women used their extra income to
buy schoolbooks for their children and machinery for the farm. They contributed
to the purchase of additional land or a new farm.
Women worked in the fields and milked. They husked corn and dug potatoes.
Some women managed farms themselves when their husbands died or were away
from the farm for a long time.
Civil War Brings Change
Ideas about women began to change
after the Civil War. Once denied the same opportunities to attend schools
as men, more and more Iowa women began attending schools and universities.
New types of jobs opened up for women. Women who worked outside the home entered
into domestic service, teaching and millinery work. By 1900 many women had
left their farms and moved to the city to work in shops, offices and factories.
Other women were entering professional fields where only men were employed.
More Iowa women practiced law and medicine, served as county school superintendents
and as bank presidents.
The Bradley Bros. Cigar Factory in Dubuque employed women in 1906 to roll
cigars. Workers were on the job more than 50 hours a week. The pay was about
$3 for a week's work. Women were considered good employees by many factory
owners because they were less likely than men to join unions. Women were paid
less than men for factory work too.
Women's Work
Because women took care of children
in their role as mother, many people believed teaching seemed to fit into
"womanly duties." As men left teaching for higher paying work in
factories or farming, jobs opened up for women. And, as with most professions,
women teachers were paid less than men teachers. By 1880 two-thirds of public
school teachers were women. However, women teachers were required to quit
their jobs if they got married.
Women Wear Different Hats
Owning
a millinery shop was one of the few socially accepted ways women could own
businesses. Hats were an important accessory for a nineteenth-century woman's
wardrobe. Women wore a hat or bonnet whenever they left the house. Some bought
a new hat every season or for special occasions. While hats were available
from general stores and mail-order catalogs, most women preferred buying individually
designed hats at local millinery shops.
A milliner had a wide variety of duties. She was a buyer, designer, stocker,
salesclerk, advertising manager and accountant. Some milliners traveled to
eastern cities to buy new hats. Besides hats, millinery shops sold ladies
cuffs, collars, gloves, sewing supplies, fashion magazines, and the current
dress patterns. The shops provided rural Iowa women with the current fashion
styles of eastern cities. An 1873 newspaper advertisement for Pratt and Strub,
an Iowa City millinery, read: "Nowhere else are the equals of our millinery
offers to be found. We believe we are the only house where original New York
Pattern Hats are to be found."
Today most women in Iowa don't make soap, bake over a log fire or quit their
jobs when they get married. Women own businesses—not millinery shops
anymore, but clothing stores, restaurants, book stores, law firms and trucking
companies. They have more opportunities in a variety of professions. Most
careers are open to men as well as women.
