Title: Women in the Workforce - The Progressive Era and Women's Reform
Headings: The Progressive Era and Women's Reform

Content: For instance the number of “female clerical workers, for example, increased from 2.6 percent in 1870 to 37.7 percent in 1910.” 2 Additionally the most shocking statistic is that the amount of women that became telephone operators, “99 percent of them were women by 1918.” [ 2] The technological advancement of the age induced many more job opportunities during the era. Another main facet of the changing work environment during the time came in the form of a natural disaster. The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911. Essentially the incident generated unions such as the Women’s Trade Union League “The Triangle fire played a critical role in transforming the ways in which the legal culture attributed causes to industrial accidents, which were a main focus of political debate at the time.” [ 3] In other words the Triangle fire set a precedent for the progressive era as one of the first landmarks in governmental regulation of industry. In particular it meant that working conditions in ‘more than 300 firms” had been changed due to the ILGWU [1]. Although many unions and organization during the time were unfortunately able successfully able to alter the major industry atrocities generated by unregulated business, many industries were able to bend the regulations. For instance industry owners sought after women because they could take advantage of the fact that women had lower wages. [