Title: America at Work | Articles and Essays | America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress
Headings: America at Work
Collection America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894 to 1915
America at Work
Topics for Work
Cattle Breeding
Coal Mining
Convict Labor
Fire fighters
Fish markets
Harbor construction
Horse stockyards
Ice manufacture
Industrial and manufacturing work *
Logging
Newspaper carriers
Pharmaceutical employees
Police
Refuse Disposal
Sheep Breeding
Sugarcane industry
United States Postal Office

Content: This era also saw the development of department stores and retail jobs in urban areas. Industrial capitalism had succeeded in producing more goods for the consumer to buy, which led to the increased need for sales people. Retail jobs were seen by many as more respectable than factory work, especially for women, who were finding increasing opportunities in this venue. Logging in Maine
One development of this period was the increase of women working outside their homes. Still, society dictated limited choices for them. The most frequent occupations that were considered respectable for women at the time included factory work, frequently in the garment or textile industries, teaching, nursing, domestic service, work in department stores, or clerical work in offices. Women were paid less than men, even for doing the same jobs, because men were perceived as the family breadwinners and women were thought to be better suited to domesticity (even though many women worked outside the home throughout their lives). There was a perceived hierarchy to jobs that women could obtain which mirrored the stratification occurring with men's jobs. Factory jobs were considered superior to domestic service since a woman had more control over her free time in such jobs than as a live-in servant. Jobs in department stores were thought to be a cut above factory jobs and occasionally offered women management or buying opportunities.