Social Transition Of The Lower-level Women's Role During British Industrial Revolution

The time during the industrial revolution was a transitional period of British women who were in the lower social level. Before the industrial revolution, the British women mainly did housework, their labor was not recognized by society and their social status was marginalized. Except housework, they went to nearby farm in busy season acting as helpers, and shared some of the work with her husband in family workshops, but the attribute of family-type women was still as before. The arrival of the industrial revolution made the situation above changed gradually. The early industrial revolution, on the one hand, for the universal implementation of the putting-out system, on the other hand, there have appeared some of the larger mills. The putting-out system made the family no longer be an isolated economic unit, but a link in the social system of production, which created the conditions for women to become factory workers. While emergence of the factory made women first truly go out of the house become a reality. Till medium-term industrial revolution, the emergence of the steam engine made choice of the factory site was no longer restricted because of the natural environment, the cotton textile factory appeared subsequently in the United Kingdom. Women with their unique advantage of the industry soon became the main labor force. However, due to the impact of traditional prejudices, they encountered a large labor intensity, poor working conditions, unequal pay for equal work, and other unfair treatment. However, even so, their traditional sense of the family women's attribute was reducing, and social labor attribute has increased correspondingly. This trend reflected obviously increasingly in the latter part of the industrial revolution. Women were no longer limited in the textile industry jobs and in other industries which were recognized belonged to the men also can see the shadow of women. Faced with all kinds of unfair treatment, the women no longer chose silence, but through various methods to protect their own interests. Thus, women's organizations, women's movement as well as a series of women-worker legislation came into being. Although these efforts have ushered the changes they wanted, but the society which was dominated by the male was no longer ignored their existence, because in a sense, through the baptism of the industrial revolution, the majority of the British lower-level women gradually completed the basic change that from the family-type women to social workers.