Existing comment:
New Roles and Opportunities for Women:
The Civil War accelerated the trend, which had started with the industrialization process, of hiring women for the labor force. The war economy demanded more production, which meant more workers. Furthermore, women were called on to fill the ranks of a labor force vacated by men going to war. Many women also felt compelled to take jobs to provide for their families if the head of the household was lost to war or disease.
Nevertheless, women were invariably paid less than their male counterparts and often worked under difficult and dangerous circumstances. Female government clerks, who broke the social mores of the time -- and could be said to be forerunners of the Women's Liberation movement -- sadly faced low pay and openly hostile working conditions as a consequence of their daring acts. |