Impact of Industrial Revolution and how it impacted women in the family

The Industrial Revolution was fueled by the economic necessity of many women, singled and married, to find waged work outside their home. Mostly, women found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece work shops. They also worked in the coal mines. For the majority of women factory work in the early years of the 19th century resulted in a life of hardship, and for some women the Industrial Revolution provided independent wages, mobility and a better standard of living. Inspectors visited mills, mines and shops taking evidence from workers to see ways in which the Industrial Revolution affected women and families. Working conditions were often unsanitary and the work was dangerous, the education suffered because of the demands of work, home life suffered as women were faced with the double burden of factory work followed by domestic chores and child care, men assumed supervisory roles over women and received higher wages, unsupervised young women away from home generated societal fears over their fate, as a result of the need for wages in the growing cash economy, families became dependent on the wages of women and children, and there was some worker opposition to proposals that child and female labor should be abolished from certain jobs were some ways in which the Industrial Revolution affected women and families identified by the inspectors.