The Lowell System - Essay Example

The Lowell System: Feminine Emancipation or Exploitation? The early nineteenth century witnessed the rapid transformation of the American economy from the agrarian to the industrial, with a corresponding demand for female labor in the textile mills of New England. This new need for labor inevitably led to a conflict with the nineteenth century American stereotype of the ‘lady,’ as fostered by the prevalent ideology of the “cult of true womanhood” (Welter, qtd . in Wheeler and Becker, 147), which unequivocally asserted that the woman’s place in society was in her own home. The prescriptive literature of the age identified piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity as the ideal characteristics of respectable womanhood. Working girls challenged this domestic ideology and aroused suspicion and prejudice in the minds of established public opinion. The Lowell System, which incorporated boarding houses for single, factory girls, under the supervision of landladies, attempted to retain the shield of respectability for these working girls. Contrasting points of view of the Lowell System, excerpts from journals and books, and selections of written by letters the ‘Lowell girls,’ offer an insight into this conflict between the cult ideology and the factory system. The evidence indicates that the Lowell System was exploitative to a degree, but facilitated the financial independence of its women and definitely shattered the stereotype of the ‘cult of true womanhood.’ The Lowell System was based on a strict regimen, which can indisputably be categorized as exploitative to a marked degree. As the boarders were all temporary residents of Lowell, they could be expected, in case of trouble, to return to their distant homes, with no recourse to local agitation. Under the guise of “protection of their characters” (Mills, qtd in Wheeler and Becker, 153), they were subject to surveillance and moral policing by the matrons. Even “general and habitual light behavior and conversation” (Mills, 153) could be construed as delinquent behavior. The threat of dishonorable discharge was evidently held over them as a goad to conforming behavior. The boarding houses were crowded and impersonal. There was no privacy or time for leisure. There were a plethora of rules and regulations, including mandatory attendance at church, evening classes and moral lectures. The factory working hours extended to an average of eleven hours per day. A system of bells regimented every hour of the day, from 4.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. A mere half-hour was allotted for breakfast and dinner. (Time Table of the Lowell Mills.156). The need for libraries, bathing rooms, better ventilated working place and accommodation, shorter working hours, a relief fund for the sick, and longer meal times, are all documented as the shortcomings of the Lowell System (Lowell Offering, 164). Even in the spirited defense of the System by a factory girl in the Lowell Offering, the plaintive “We are fatherless and motherless” (164), strikes the truest note. Lucy Larcom’s account of factory life appears to be rather gilded, and she herself concedes that it “could not be the right sort of life for a child” (167), and bemoans the ban on books. Mary Paul’s letter home (172) lists the workplace accidents at the mills, which were obviously commonplace factory hazards. She also asserts that there was little time to even write letters home. The evidence is clear that the Lowell System capitalized on the situation of the factory girls. They worked long hours, had little time for leisure, were subjected to moral policing, and were ruled by a strict, authoritarian regimen. The one incontrovertible advantage of the Lowell System was the fact that it gave the factory girls an independent income. The factory system provided a practical means for the economic needs of the poorer, unmarried women in rural regions to be met. The prevalent domestic ideology was contravened by a class of women whose pressing financial needs were met by the demands for new labor in the factories. It is acknowledged that the factory wages were “significantly higher” than what could be earned from the other vocations open to women: farming, teaching and domestic service The Lowell girls used their wages for clothes, dowries and education (149). This is reaffirmed by Mary Paul’s letter, in which she states that her need for new clothes will be met by moving to Lowell where she can “earn more to begin with” (172). This exposes the weakness of Orestes Brownson’s contention that they received “a miserable pittance” (151). It is widely agreed upon that their high wages enabled the factory girls to dress in a manner which made it difficult to distinguish them from the so-called ‘ladies’ of higher society, right up to their “gold watches” (163). In this context, the factory system definitely played a role in the empowerment of women and the blurring of class distinctions through dress. The very fact that the boarding house tenants were bothered by crowds of importuning tradesmen in the evening is evidence of their having money to spend on their wants. The Lowell women’s financial independence gave them more room for choice and may have contributed to the fact that they married later than other women and tended to choose skilled workers and tradesmen, rather than farmers, as their husbands (Dublin, footnote, 151). Financial independence gave the Lowell girls the freedom to explore horizons beyond the narrow confines of their rural homes. This is seen in Lucy Larcom’s college education, as also in the fact that many of the girls went on to try their hands at several other occupations, such as seamstress, housekeeper, and even Mary Paul’s stint as a member of a Utopian community (171), before settling down to domestic life. The Lowell System directly challenged the stereotype of the ‘cult of womanhood,’ which confined women to domestic boundaries. The factory girls of Lowell, who worked away from home, defied the convention of the home being the ‘proper place’ for a ‘respectable’ woman. Young, unmarried women in New England’s industrialized, textile towns, who were living and working away from home, were diametrically opposed to the stereotypical ‘true women.’ The Lowell System, through its moral policing, church attendance and improving lectures, attempted to demonstrate that its factory girls could continue to adhere to the requirements of feminine piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. However, there can be no doubt that the factory girls broke the mould of the “timid, doubtful and clingingly dependent” (Greenwood, qtd. in Wheeler and Becker, 148) women of cult ideology. The experience of factory work could not but instill an independent attitude: particularly in the light of good, self-earned wages. The evening schools and lectures, and the publication of magazines, such as the Lowell Offering, provided an opportunity for farmers’ daughters to broaden their horizons. Lucy Larcom is an example of a factory girl who went on to obtain a college education. Despite the attempts at moral policing and strict surveillance, the girls obviously experienced a degree of liberty to make their own choices. This is evident in the case of Delia Page falling in love with an undesirable mill worker, who has deserted his wife and child at Lowell (173). This contravention of the domestic ideology obviously caused uneasiness in society, as seen in the Lowell Offering editorial which regrets that public opinion perceives Lowell as “the nucleus of depravity and ignorance” (159). The fact that factory girls were held in low esteem in society is evident in Orestes Brownson’s obviously prejudiced statement that they were “damned to infamy” (152). The factory girls themselves concede “that there has been prejudice against us” (161). The writer of the letter which argues for the Dignity of Labor explicitly protests against the domestic ideology by asserting that “To be able to earn one’s own living by laboring with the hands, should be reckoned among female accomplishments” (160). The participation of women mill workers in the protests for the Ten-Hour Movement further eroded the myth of feminine submissiveness. With all its demerits, it cannot be denied that the Lowell System struck a blow against the stereotype of ‘true womanhood,’ by weakening the “captive chains of prejudice” (A Familiar Letter, 162) against those women who worked for a living. The shattering of the stereotype of the dependent woman is best exemplified by the defiant lyrics of the Song of the Spinners which asserts “Dependent on others we ne’er will be” (166). The industrialization of New England, and the proliferation of textile mills, ushered in a sea change in the status of the working woman. The practical economic necessity of the rural women saw them flock to the factories. These working women contravened the popular ideology of the times, which specified that the woman’s place was in her home. Despite the attempts of the Lowell System to reconcile the domestic ideology of the ‘cult of true womanhood’ with the reality of the young factory girls, public opinion viewed the development with prejudice. The conflict between the ideology and the reality could not be resolved by the boarding houses. The Lowell System, with its strict regimen, can be considered to have exploited the factory girls. They worked long hours, were given little leisure, even in the evenings, and were subject to countless rules and regulations. However, at the same time, it was the gateway to financial independence for young women, offering them the highest wages then available to women workers. In this context, the factory girls were empowered to explore new options in life, after their stints at Lowell, and earned their right to make their own choices. The Lowell System was designed to meet the need for labor at the textile mills, while maintaining the ideology of the ‘true woman.’ On the contrary, the System helped to shatter the stereotype of the helpless, dependent woman. The factory girls became financially independent, broadened their horizons by living away from narrowing home influences, learned to fall upon their own resources and moved away from the domestic ideology. It can be said that the Lowell System, despite its demerits, served as a tool in the changing women’s places in nineteenth century American society. Works Cited. Wheeler, firstname and Becker, firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Read More