Married women typically avoided factory work and chose home-based economic activities such as dressmaking , taking in boarders , and operating small shops in their homes or neighborhoods . Italian neighborhoods also proved attractive to midwives , women who trained in Italy before coming to America . Many single women were employed in the garment industry as seamstresses , often in unsafe working environments . Many of the 146 who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 were Italian-American women . Angela Bambace was an 18-year-old Italian American organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in New York who worked to secure better working conditions and shorter hours for women workers in the garment industry
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Italian Americans