Bagley
Despite having limited career opportunities throughout much of U.S. history, women have played a key role in the ongoing fight for fairness on the job.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, here is a look at one early movement for workers’ rights that strongly influenced the labor movement as we know it today.
In the 1830s, decades before widespread union organizing, women employed at textile mills in Lowell, Mass., who were already working about 13 hours per day at mills filled with poor air quality, fought back after the bosses cut their wages.
They went on strike twice to fight for fair wages, encouraging workers at several different mills to join them.
While these strikes were unsuccessful, the workers put a dent in the mill’s operations and kept up the pressure.
In the 1840s, Sarah Bagley and other mill workers formed the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, believed to be the first union of working women in history. Bagley served as the association’s president and led the group to grow to nearly 600 members. They also organized chapters in nearby communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Although women did not have the right to vote, the association turned to a tactic important to the labor movement today – political action.
The association organized a petition campaign to urge the Massachusetts Legislature to approve a 10-hour workday. Thousands of workers signed a series of petitions, which led to legislative hearings.
Bagley and other workers testified before political leaders to urge Massachusetts elected leaders to cap the workday at 10 hours.
The association’s fight for the 10-hour workday was largely unsuccessful in Massachusetts, but New Hampshire became the first state to pass a 10-hour workday law, which was unenforceable at that time.
The association also campaigned against a state representative who had opposed their efforts and defeated him.
Nearly 200 years later, there is still work to do to ensure full justice for women in the workplace, but the Lowell mill workers showed a lesson that is still relevant today. When we stand together, we can make positive change.
— Ashley McNeal
