Title: Women’s Occupations - The Social Historian
Headings: Women’s Occupations
Women’s Occupations
Guest Post
Women’s Occupations in the Early Twentieth Century
Validity of Conclusions
1900 and 1910 Occupations
Social influences and family relationships
How this information was useful in writing a family history story
Guest Post by Sharon S Atkins

Content: Urban area afforded a greater percentage of women employed. During the early twentieth century, in cities of 25,000 people or more 32% of the women were gainfully employed. While, in smaller cities or country districts only 19% of the women were gainfully employed. Women work in the laundry via Wikimedia Commons
Likely driven by the necessity to work for a living, employment also appeared to be influenced by race and immigrant status. It was interesting to learn that 20% of white women with native born parents were gainfully employed, while 29% of women with immigrant parents were gainfully employed and 18% of women who themselves were immigrants were gainfully employed. Not surprisingly, nearly 44% of the African-American women were listed in the gainfully employed category. For the same reason, a need to work, younger women, 51% of the women ages 16-24 appear listed as being gainfully employed – much more than the 30% of older women ages 25-44. Thus, in reading the following information please note that data was not always compared in the ‘apples to apples’ mode. 1900 and 1910 Occupations
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Women's Occupations
Women’s Work and Wages in the United States, CE Persons, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol 29, No 2 (Feb., 1915). Page 202
The choices of occupations for women were influenced by demand or opportunity as well as by personal preference, qualification by education and natural abilities.