The industrial revolution and economic opportunities for women in the Essay

The industrial revolution and economic opportunities for women in the 1830s - Essay Example Concerning what effects the revolution had on the lives of women, Lerner points out that professionalization â€Å"worked to the detriment of women† (152). She stated that when the need to train individuals in medicine arose, women were locked out of the recruitment process. This happened with total disregard to the fact that prior to that some aspects of medicine as if women dominated the one midwifery. It was the case with law, business, and retail trade where the role of women diminished. Lerner further asserts that â€Å"the only reason women continued to thrive† (153) in two particular fields, nursing and education was actual because these areas were considered womanly and were in essence low paying. Aside from professionalization, Lerner argues that industrialization sharpened the divide in the lifestyle of women of different classes. According to her, while the lower-class women essentially became ‘mill girls’ owing to their nature of work in factori es, the middle and upper classes of women transformed to become ‘ladies’. This is because they invested their newfound free time in pursuing leisure. What comes out clearly from Lerner’s arguments is that the opportunities that arose from the industrial â€Å"revolution marginalized women† (155) and those that did not, were long-hour jobs that did not present women with a better economic opportunity. On the other hand, the supporting essay by Cott states that in â€Å"the 1830 is a primarily female labor force† was recruited by new textile industries.