Full text of Women's Place in Industry in 10 Southern States

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U .

S.

D E P A R T M E N T

O F

L A B O R

W . N . DOAK, Secretary

WOMEN'S BUREAU
M A R Y ANDERSON, Directo

WOMEN'S PLAGE
IN INDUSTRY
IN 10 SOUTHERN STATES
BY

MARY ANDERSON

U N I T E D STATES
G O V E R N M E N T PRINTING OFFICE
W A S H I N G T O N : 1931

F o r sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.




Price 5 cents




CONTENTS
Page

Letter of transmittal
Industrial development
Southern women early makers of textile products
Early manufacturing in the South
Manufacturing vies with agriculture
Occupational distribution
As recorded in census of 1850
Growth of cotton mills, 1860 to 1885
Men and women employed in 1870 and 1920
Occupations of women in 1890 and 1920
Agriculture
Domestic and personal service
All manufacturing industries
v
Increase in certain manufacturing industries, 1880 to 1920
Women in manufacturing, 1920
Wages
1
Labor legislation
Factory inspection
Hours of work
Night work
Other labor legislation
Conclusion

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APPENDIX—TABLES

TABLE

I. Number of gainfully-occupied persons and per cent they
formed of total population 10 years of age and over, 1870
and 1920, by sex and State
II. Number of gainfully-occupied women and proportion of these
in certain occupational groups, 1890 and 1920, by State
III. Number of women in manufacturing and proportion of these
in chief industries, 1920, by State
IVr Number of women in manufacturing and proportion of these in
textile, tobacco, and certain clothing industries, 1880 and
1920, by State
V. Legal limitation of working hours for women, by State




in

10
10
11
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LETTER OF

TRANSMITTAL

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
WOMEN'S BUREAU,
'Washington,
March
83,1931.

SIR : I have the honor to submit herewith an address on the place
of women in industry in 10 Southern States, delivered by me before
the National Women's Trade Union League, in session at Greensboro,
N. C., on March 7 of this year. It traces the occupational position
of women in the 10 States up to 1920, and shows something of the
economic background of southern life.
Respectfully submitted.
MARY ANDERSON, Director.
H o n . W . N . DOAK,

Secretary of Labor.




v




WOMEN'S PLACE IN INDUSTRY IN 10
SOUTHERN STATES
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

To one who has witnessed the characteristic development of a
number of growing industrial communities and has followed the
progress of the workers in their efforts toward better working conditions, reasonable hours, and fair pay, the development now taking
place in many parts of the South is seen to have elements in common
with the typical process that comes with industry, whether it be in
England, in New England, in the South, or elsewhere.
The industrial awakening of a community brings with it the increased establishment of mills and factories, the growth of machinery,
the appeal to prosperity, and the inducements to capital to locate.
This is the growth that now grips the South, with its broad fields,
its g;reat resources, its capital, its fine manhood and womanhood; yet
in every such development are found certain characteristics that are
individual and that apply particularly to the locality. Among
these characteristics two appear outstanding in the South : First,
the years of preoccupation with two great crops—cotton and tobacco—followed by a manufacturing system that concentrated largely
on cotton and was not greatly diversified ; and second, the unique
background formed by the whole economic history of the area, a
background difficult to understand without actual first-hand knowledge of its broad plantations, its thousands of small landowners and
its tenant farmers. From such a background, in which cotton and
tobacco were the dominant crops, in which the population was heterogeneous, in which the natural individualism of an agricultural area
was enhanced by the particular aloofness of plantation ownership,
and in which it had been the custom for plantation owners to assume
personal responsibility for their employees, has grown the southern
mill village, with its company houses and mill-welfare work and its
lack of diversified industrial opportunity.
Southern women early makers of textile products.

Modern industrialism of the type associated .with large-scale
enterprise is developing somewhat later in the South than in certain
other parts of the country, and it is significant to note that this
growth shows great differences in various Southern States. However, after the War of the Kevolutioii and in the early days of the
nineteenth century, the South became well advanced in the growth of
the small neighborhood shops that appeared in all parts of the
country during,that period.
Here, as in other parts of the world, women took up their traditional work, the manufacture of clothing materials and clothing
l




2

W O M E N ' S PLACE IN INDUSTRY IN 10 SOUTHERN STATES

itself—the early textile industry. Sometimes a plantation having
water power would undertake the initial processes of manufacture
and send the weaving to be done in the simple farm homes that represented the great bulk of the white people, many of whom were
Scotch-Irish/German, Moravian^ Huguenot, or Swiss settlers who
had learned the art of weaving in the old country. Practically every
farmhouse had its.spinning wheel.and.one or more looms on which
the women spun yam and wove cloth for the family wardrobe, and
their work went in great measure—how great we can not tell—to
make up the records of southern production along these lines.
Early manufacturing in the South.

The application of machinery to the manufacture of textile products began very early in the South. Before Slater erected the first
Arkwright mill in Rhode Island, power and automatic machinery
were applied to cotton spinning in South Carolina:. In 1790, a small
band of English weavers and spinners established in the tidewater
region of the State an 84-spindIe mill for the manufacture of fine
cloths. Before 1800, spinning jennies and water-driven spinning
frames were to be found in two South Carolina towns, and carding
and spinning machinery was in use in Eastern Tennessee. Early in
the century, three Rhode Island manufacturers erected in South
Carolina a mill of 700 spindles—the'first' to be built in the Piedmont
region—hauling their machinery 250 miles over rough roads into the
interior.
In 1810, the value of textiles produced was greater in North Carolina than in Massachusetts, and the census for that year records more
homespun cotton manufactured in Virginia, South Carolina, and
Georgia than in the other 13 States and Territories combined, also
more flax spun in Virginia than in any other State. We can not
ascertain the full degree in which women contributed to this, but it is
safe to say that the part they played was a large one.
Besides textile products and clothing of various kinds, furniture
was made by local cabinetmakers, much of it good in line and finish,
and farm wagons and fine carriages also were built in the South. By
1810 or 1820 there were thousands of small shops throughout the
Southern States. To be sure, they did work that was quite local in
character and much of the product was consumed at home or in the
neighborhood, but the same could be said of other parts of the country. At that time there was every prospect that ttie South would
become a diversified manufacturing section.
Manufacturing vies with agriculture.

Throughout the early years of the century, up to 1840, the rising
manufactures ;vied with agriculture for development. But the indus:
trial revolution in England, demanding large quantities of cotton for
the use of its machines^ and the invention of the gin, together with
the then existing labor conditions, enabling the southern planter to
prepare cotton quickly for export, made the receipt of profits more
certain and more rapid from the growth of this commodity than
from its manufacture into afinishedproduct.
*
A very large factor in the promotion of agriculture was the favorsable climate and the fertile soil found throughout large areas in the




OCCUPATIONAX, DISTRIBUTION

3

Southern States. The thousands of small farmers who owned some
land but did their own work found cotton or tobacco the most profitable crop, and these aspired to plantation ownership, which was also
the ambition of men engaged in business, many of whom already were
plantation proprietors. The development of a 1-crop or a 2-crop
agriculture triumphed over that of manufacturing, and the ideal of
plantation life considerably retarded urban growth.
The point at which manufacturing seems first to have lagged was
between 1840 and 1850, according to census figures of number of persons employed in establishments whose product amounted to over
$500 in the year. In every State there was a considerable increase
in such manufacturing employment from 1820 to 1840, but in the
next 10 years the numbers so employed showed a notable decline in
7 of the 10 Southern States under consideration; thkt is, the group
bounded by Mason and Dixon's line and the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers, omitting only West Virginia. Only in Georgia, Kentucky,
and Maryland of this southern group was the increase in persons
employed in manufacturing continuous to 1850. This decline after
1840 was not confined to the South but occurred in 8 of the 19 other
States in which comparison could be made.
Of the free and/slave population with occupations reported in
1840, over 16 per cent in the entire United States were in manufacturing, but in four of the Southern States—South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, and Mississippi—fewer than 5 per cent were so employed,
and only in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky was the per cent as
much as 10.
OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
As recorded in census of 1850.

By 1850 women came definitely into the recognized occupational
figures of the Nation, for a record is obtainable of the " hands employed " in that year in " Manufactures, mining, and the mechanic
arts." In the country as a whole (there were 31 States at that time)
women formed nearly one-fourth of the " hands employed," but only
in Georgia and Maryland among the Southern States did they approximate the proportion found in these industries nationally. In
Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia,
where more than half the women in manufactures, mining, and the
mechanic arts were in cotton manufactures, women formed over onetenth of the total number of " hands," but in the remaining 3 States
under consideration—Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee—they
constituted 8 per cent or fewer of the total.
Growth of cotton mills, 1860 to 1885.

In 1860 there were about 160 cotton mills in the South. Ten years
later many of these had been destroyed in the war or had deteriorated
beyond repair by being run to capacity to furnish supplies. In
1880, usually considered as the date of the beginning of the modern
industrial development in the South, there were the same number
of mills as in 1860, but about twice as many spindles, and the number
of spindles again was doubled between 1880 and 1885.
50344°—31




2

4

W O M E N ' S PLACE IN INDUSTRY M

1 0 SOUTHERN STATES

Men and women employed in 1870 and 1920.1

Figures from the decennial censuses of 1870 to 1920, as far as these
are comparable, ihave been considered for the group of 10 Southern
States in question—from Maryland and Kentucky on the north to
Mississippi and Tennessee on the west.
In 1870 in these 10 States together a larger proportion of the
women 10 years of age and over were gainfully employed, than was
the case in the United States as a whole. No doubt this was due
largely to the employment of negro women in the South, but it is
not possible to gauge the full extent of this, since the census does
not separate figures by race as far back as 1870 in such a way that
occupations in all States can be compared.
By 1920 the increase over 1870 in proportion of women employed
had been somewhat greater in the whole country than in tjiese 10
Southern States together, and in both cases something over 2 in 10
of the women 10 years of age or more were reported as gainfully
occupied. In all the southern group but Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Virginia the proportion was somewhat greater than in the country
as a whole.
In 1920 from 7 to 8 of every 10 men were gainfully employed,
both in the United States and in the 10 Southern States together.
In the United States the increase over 1870 in* proportion employed
had been more than twice as great for women as for men, and in the
10 Southern States the proportion of men employed had declined
slightly.
Separate consideration of the States shows the proportion of Employed women to have increased from 1870 to 1920 in ever^ State but
Mississippi, the advance being greatest in Maryland^ Florida, North
Carolina, and Tennessee. The proportion of men employed had
declined in six States; it had increased slightly in Florida, Maryland, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The censusfigureson occupational distribution in 1930 are not yet
available, and probably it will be several months before they can be
put into form for adequate comparison with earlier figures.
Occupations of women in 1890 and 1920.

Three great occupational groups—agriculture, manufacturing, and
domestic and personal service—engaged about four in every five of
the gainfully-employed women in the group of 10 Southern States
in 1920. In the country as a whole only three in every five were in
these pursuits, the largest remaining groups being in the professions
and in clerical service. That individual differences exist in the States
of the South is strikingly illustrated by the occupational distribution.
Agriculture.—In 1920, in Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi from 58 to 68 per cent of the women were agricultural workers,
although in the 10 States together less than 39 per cent and i in
the United States as a whole less than 13 per cent were so employed!
The 3Q years from 1890 to 1920 had reduced the proportion of
women in agriculture in the case of the United States as a whole,
the southern area under consideration, and each Southern State
1 All occupation figures are based on the census classification " Females 10 years of
age and oyer."
...........




OC CUPATIONAL DISTBIBUTION

5

with the exception of Georgia and Kentucky, which showed very
slight increases.
Domestic and personal service.—Both in the United States and in
the Southy domestic and personal service engaged over one in four of
the women gainfully employed in 1920. While the proportion was
only slightly higher in the 10 Southern States than in the United
States, in 5 of them it rose well above the proportion for the whole
country, ranging from about 30 per cent m Georgia to more than
46 per cent in Florida.
In every case, but that of Florida, the proportion in domestic and
personal service had declined from 1890 to 1920. This decrease,
which in most cases was spectacular, was greater in the United States
as a whole than in the 10 Southern States together.
All rivanufacturvng industries.—In 1920, in the 10 Southern States
about 1% in every 10 employed women were in manufacturing, while
in the country as a whole about 2^4 in 10 were so employed. Here
again rather extreme variations among the Southern States are
noticeable. Only in Maryland and North Carolina did the proportions of women engaged ;in manufacturing run as high as in the
United States, while in 5 of the States the proportions of women so
employed were smaller than that for the 10 States together. As
compared with 1890, the proportion of women in manufacturing had
risen in all but 1 of the 10 Southern States, though it had declined
in the United States as a whole.
Increase in certain manufacturing industries, 1880 to 1920.

The increase in woman employment in certain manufacturing industries in the South, as compared with that in the United States
as a whole, has been marked. The proportion in textile mills of all
the women in manufacturing in the United States in 1920 showed
a slight decline from the 1880figure,and the proportions in tobacco
and certain clothing industries snowed increases of only about three
points each.
In 3 of the 10 Southern States, the proportion in textile mills had
declined in the 40-year period, but it had more than doubled in
South Carolina and Tennessee and had largely increased in the other
States. In Kentucky the proportion in tobacco factories had increased more than ten times in the 40 years, and in 4 other States
the increases had been striking. The proportion in certain clothing
industries had increased more than five times in 4 of the States under consideration, and it had doubled or more than doubled in 4
others.
Women in manufacturing, 1920.

A bird's-eye view of the distribution of women in manufacturing
industries in the 10 Southern States in 1920 again reveals considerable variation among the States, and gives decided indication of
tendencies toward diversification.
While in 6 of the States the textile industry employed much the
largest proportions of the women in manufacturing, the 10 States
together employed fewer than one-fifth of the women in textile mills
in the entire country. In Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia the largest
groups of women were in cigar and, tobacco factories, and the 10




6

W O M E N ' S PLACE M

INDUSTRY I N 1 0 SOUTHERN STATES

States employed more than one-third of the women so engaged in the
United States.
The 10 States employed about one-tenth of the women in the whole
country who were in certain clothing industries, such as cloak, suit,
and dress manufacturing and the making of shirts and overalls.
These included over one-third of the women in manufacturing in
Maryland and nearly one-fifth of those in Kentucky, but fewer than
one-tenth of those in each of the other States.
The 10 States employed, roughly, 1 in 6 of the women in the
country who were in lumber and furniture factories, 1 in 9 of those
in certain food industries, and 1 in 14 of those in printing and publishing. Lumber and furniture showed an unusual geographic distribution, every State having a group of women so employed, but the
numbers ranging only from 217 to 752. In Tennessee, Virginiat
Kentucky, and Maryland from 400 to 600 women were in printing
and publishing. The State of Mississippi, oh the other hand, had
only 26 women so reported.
The food industries had a greater relative importance in Mississippi and Maryland than in the other States. In Maryland a considerable group of women—4.8 per cent—were in metal work, and in
Kentucky practically 3 per cent were in shoe factories.
WAGES

The ever-present problem of wages is especially apparent in the
South. Prominent among the reasons for the low wage paid women
in this section are two historical factors, which I will discuss briefly.
In the first place, until very recently? values have been affected by
the standards of an agricultural civilization, and they still are so
affected to a large extent. When the tenant farmer who, with the
help of his wife and children, raises crops on shares, raises his own
vegetables and cures his own meat, pays his rent with his labor, and
frequently does not handle over $200 or $250 in money in the year—
and the number of such tenant farmers in the South is legion, as
recent studies in certain States have shown2—when such a farmer
hears of a young girl earning $10 or $12 a week tending a loom and
the rest of the family earning in proportion, it sounds like a measure
of wealth. But if he transplants his family to the mill town he soon
realizes how its financial needs expand when most of the food and
clothing must be bought, and how small are the wages in relation to
the need.
The second historical factor that has set a low-wage standard for
women in the South has been the dominance in manufacturing of
textiles, an industry that has been followed by a low-wage standard
whatever the locality in which it has developed. In a study of the
wages of over 100,000 women in many industries in 13 States, the
Women's Bureau found wag;es universally low in cotton mills. The
low wage for women in textiles may be considered a direct result of
the low money value usually attached to the services of the woman
a A recent study in North Carolina stated that there were 63,487 white tenant
farmers in that State, with their families numbering 317,500, or nearly one-fifth of the
entire white population.—Dickey, J. A., and Branson, E. C., How Farm ^tenants Lire*
University of North Carolina.




LABOR LEGISLATION

7

in the tome. There she spun and wove, in the early days, without
money payment. When she went to spin and weave :in the factory,
her employer and she herself set a low money value on her work.
The State studies made by the Women's Bureau in periods of fairly
normal business activity include three large cotton-manufacturing
States in the South—Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. In the
first named^ 1 in 4 of the full-time women workers in cotton mills
earned less than $8 a week, and in Georgia and Tennessee about
1 in 6 or 7 earned less than $10. Even the larger of these is less than
a; living wage for a woman in the South, and the situation becomes
still more serious when it is found that earnings of women in cotton
mills in these States showed a tendency to decline for women over 40
years of age.
Moreover, earnings of women in cotton factories have shown a
marked decline in recent years. Pay-roll data published by the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from 1924
to 1928 showed declines during that time of from 0.4 to 16.0 per cent
in earnings in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, ana a. slight advance—4.5 per cent—only in Alabama. The
earnings of more than 10,000 women spinners and of more than 8,000
women weavers in l l cotton-manufacturing States in the whole
country, as reported in the same study, showed a decline of over 12
per cent,
A low wage for women not only necessitates a low standard of
living for the women and their families but the evidence is conclusive, according to some of the most noted economists, that such a low
wage paid one group tends to depress the wages of all workers, and
thus to perpetuate a low living standard. Further, the effect upon
industry is disastrous, since the low purchasing power of the
workers—and wage earners constitute about three-fourths of the buying population—forms a continuous constricting influence upon the
markets that industry otherwise might obtain for its goods.
LABOR LEGISLATION

Legislation for securing sound work conditions is likely to proceed
slowly in newly developing industrial communities. In the South
the individualism retained from the agricultural background has
undoubtedly tended to retard such legislation. However, some progress has been made, and we hope the awakening that is now taking
place among employers, workers, and the thinking men and women
of the South will hasten the process in the near future.
Factory inspection.

The amounts spent for factory inspection are relatively small in
most of the Southern States. In reporting on the costs to the
various States of protection to person and property in 1928, the
United States Department of Commerce shows that in the country
as a whole factory inspection accounted for 2.9 per cent of the
total * spent for such protection.* In the 10 Southern i States under
-consideration, however, less than 1 per cent of the cost of protection
to person and property was for factory inspection. Again -the
States vary, naturally. *Half spend nothing for factory inspection,




8

W O M E N ' S PLACE IN INDUSTRY IN 10; SOUTHERN STATES

and Tennessee exceeds the proportion averaged in the United States,
the figure for that State being 3.5 per cent, exceeded by only seven
States in the entire country.
Hours of work.

Two of the 10 States under consideration—Florida and, Alabamaprovide no protection against long hours. In surveys the Women's
Bureau made of these two States more than one-tenth of the women
covered in factories, stores, and laundries had schedules of 60 hours
or longer in the week.
The South's earliest hour law ior women that has remained on the
statute books was enacted in Virginia in 1890. Alabama had an 8hour law for women as early as: 1887, but it was in'effect only seven
years. In the entire country, 10 States and the District of Columbia
have 8-hour laws and 19 States have 8%-hour or 9-hour laws, but
those in the South stand mostly in the 10-hour class, with Tennessee
permitting 10% hours, North Carolina 11 in manufacturing, and
South Carolina 12 in stores. Of the eight Southern States having
hour legislation, only three restrict weekly hours in any industry to
less than 60: Tennessee has a 57-hour week, arid South Carolina and
Mississippi have set a maximum of 55 in certain manufacturing
industries.
That such hours should riot prevail, especially for women workers
with their multitudinous home duties, is so obvious as hardly to need
stating. Progress to-day, in many parts of the country and in many
industries, is in the direction of the 40-hour 5-day week. The shorter
workday means more general employment for everybody, more regular work for those employed, and increased time for the worker
to make use of many products than can be consumed only in leisure
hours. As an investment for national industrial prosperity it is not
only fair but economically sound. Many statements could be quoted
of employers who have tried the shorter workday and found it good
business from the standpoint of elimination of waste arid spoiled
oods, reduction of absenteeism, reduction of accidents, and a more
alanced production.

f

Night work.

The only State in this .southern group that seeks to prevent the
great physical and psychological dangers that have been proven over
and over again to inhere in night work is South Carolina, where a
law of 1911 set 10 p. m. as the latest closing time for women's work
in stores. However, thei far-seeing attitude of the textile manufacturers is now hastening the abolition of night work; and will
encourage the crystallization of this social advance into better
legislation.
Other labor legislation.

Three of the 10 States—Alabama, Maryland, and Virginia—provide that women shall not be exposed to the^hazards of mine work,
and the States with no legislation on this subject have few women so
employed. The provision of seats for workers is required in 9 of the
10 States, but in 3 of these—Maryland, South Carolina, and Alabama—such legislation is in effect only for some type of mercantile




CONCLUSION

9

establishment and does not apply to manufacturing (except in the city
of Baltimore).
Such, in the main, is the brief tale of the legislation provided in
the 10 States under consideration in the industrially developing
South. While it is still too meager, it is perhaps as much as would
have been found in other communities at the industrial stage now
reached by the South, and the signs of southern awakening to the
need of further measures give promise of better things to come.
CONCLUSION
As the historical process of industrialization develops, with aspects
peculiar to the locality, certain hopeful tendencies are showing themselves. Here is a section that has far-seeing individuals who will
profit by the history of such a growth as is taking place in the South
and will avoid, by wise management and fairness to their workers,
some of the more acute difficulties that may occur in other cases.
There are mill owners and managers in the South who are showing
wise judgment in the direction of improved wages, hours, and working conditions and the abolition of night work. Their success and
their pride in such enterprises influence others toward improvement.
The chamber of commerce of a leading Southern State, in a recent
annual report, speaks as follows:
* * * industrial development • • • must not be allowed
to result in economic exploitation, lower social standards, business
ethics, or public morals * *
* * * labor must be given employment in * * * industrial plants amid conditions productive not only of adequate wages
but conducive also of good health, happiness, and contentment.

With such pronouncements we can agree, and we can profess ourselves willing and glad to join hands with the aroused social forces
of this southland toward a new day for her workers—a day that shall
see in effect a living wage, reasonable hours of work, for the day and
for the week, and the abolition of night work; in short, the assurance
of time for leisure and opportunity for a healthier and a happier
life.




APPENDIX-r-TABLES
TABLE I .-—Number of gainfully-occupied persons and per cent they formed of
total population 10 years of age and over, 1870 and 1920, by sex and State

Number of persons 10 years of age and over
who were gainfully occupied

Per cent that gainfullyoccupied persons formed of total population
10 years of age and
over 1

State
Men

Women
1920

1870

1920

33.064,737

1,836,288
89,618
9,826
115,493
50,293
44,852
86,501
58, £60
80,946
45,402
75,201
656,992

1870
United S t a t e s — . . — ~ 10.669,635
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky..
Maryland
Mississippi.....
North Carolina...
South Carolina....
Tennessee..
Virginia

- ---

275,640
50,877
329,185'
364,300
213,691
232,349
292,439
182.355
322,5S5
337,464
2,600,885

10 Southern States

684,348
300,050
840,412
719,629
466,257
526,446
693,155
463,601
677,988
677,366.
6,054,252

Women

Men
1870

1920

1870

1920

8,549,511

74.8

78.2

13.1

21.1

223,868
85,262
288,745
131,493
137,221
194,964
202,697
205,656
152,103
156,210

80.8
77.5
82.0
78.0
76.0
80.6
80.0
75.5
74.0
78.9

79.5 24.5
77.7 15.0
78.6 26.6
77.1 .10.9
80.0 15.2
78.7 29.5
75.5 14.6,
77.6 30.9
76.5 -10.0
76.4 16.3

25.8
23.3
26.7
14.5
23.8
29.1
21.9
33.4
17.2
18.1

1,778,224

78.5

77.7

18.3

22.9

i The smallest proportion of the woman population found gainfully occupied in any census year from 1870
to 1920 was in 1890 in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, in 1880 in Kentucky and Virginia, and in 1870 in
the other States included and in the United States. The largest proportion was in 1910, and not in 1920,
<lue mainly to the fact that the census in the later year was taken in January instead of in the spring, greatly
reducing the numbers returned as in agricultural pursuits.
For men, the smallest proportion was in 1890, except in Maryland, South Carolina, and the United
States, in each of which it was in 1870. The largest proportion was in 1910, except in Alabama, Georgia,
and Mississippi, in each of which it was in 1880.

TABLE II.—Number of gainfully-occupied women and proportion of these. in
certain occupational groups, 1890 and 1920, by State
Per cent of all women gainfully occupied who were
In—
Number of gainfullyoccupied women

Agriculture

State

Per
cent in- 1890
crease

1890

United States

Alabama

Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Maryland
Mississippi
North CarolinaSouth Carolina..
Tennessee
Virginia
10 Southern States...

. 3,914,571 8,549,511
129,975
26,423
159,923
83,378
84,752
124,808
115,192
129,431
80,582
106,366




Domestic
and personal
service

118.4 17.3 12.7 26.2 22.6 41.2 25.6

2.6

I

Clerical
service

All
other

1890 1920 1890 1920 1890 1920 1890 1920

223,868
72.2 62.3 58.4 5.1
85,202 222.7 37.0l 17.6 9.5
288,745:
80.6 44.1 44.7 7.6
131,493!
57.7 14.2 14.7 19.1
137,221
61.9 a 2 2.3 2& 3
194,964'
56.2 71.6 68.0
202,697:
76.0 48.3j 39.7 11.6
205,656
58.9 68.3 61.7 6.6
152,103!
88.8 29.61 23.9 10.7
156,210
46.9 15.7j 11.9 13.5

1,040,830 1,778,224.

10

Manufacturing

6.7 25.9 25.6
12.8 42- 4 46.4
10.0 40.2 29.8
19.4 54.6 33.6
26.4 54.9 35.4
3.1 19.8 18.7
23.0 32.7 21.5
10.2 19.0 18.6
14.8 50.2 36.4
18.2 60.7 41.1

70.8 43.2,38.5 10.3 13.6 37.8 28.9

3.1 16.7 12.2,22.5
3.5 6.4 9.3
6.8 10.4;16.3
4.9 7.6110.6
11.1 10.0 21.2
1.7 15.7 11.8:20.3
.2 2.0 5.8 8.2
3.9 7.1,11.9
.2
5.8! 7.2
8.416.7
,7 10.4! 9.4'18.4
,3
.7
.4

2.0

.2
2.2
1.1 8.1!
6.1^

I

7.8|12.9

11

APPENDIX—TABIDS

TABLE III.—Number of women in manufacturing and proportion of these in
chief industries, 1920, by State
NUMBER
Women In manufacturing who were in—

Number of
women in
all manufacturing
industries 1

Textiles

United States..... J1 1,930,341

State

Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky 1
Maryland *
Mississippi
North Carolina,
South Carolina-Tennessee...
Virginia
10 Southern States <

i
1
1

J

Cigars and Food Industries
tobacco

Certain
Lumber Printing
clothing and furni- and pubindustries
lishing
ture

471,332

97,822

93,140

267,472

29,379

43,672

15,103
10,923
25,970
25,536
36,195
6,067
46,655
21,029
22,585
28,371

8,405
78
15,136
1,591
3,294
1,368
29,116
15,748
9,947
4,703

33
5,380
248
7,035
l t 636
9,828
575
775
9,657

491
292
1,366
1,096
3,568
639
•214
257
852
1,851

520
543
685
447
306
467
528
217
752
599

105
64
306
549
58ft
26
99
57
421
531

241,434

89,386

35,167

10,626

760
208
2,012
4,602
12,177
281
683
317
2,032
2,673
25,745

5,064

2,744

PER C E N T
100.0

2M

5.1

4.8

13.9 |

15.2

2.3

Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky 1
Maryland
Mississippi.
North Carolina
South Carolina-.
Tennessee
Virginia

United States

1

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

55.7
.7
52.2
6.2
9.1
22.5
62.4
74.9
44.0
16.6

.2
49.3
.9
27.5
4,5

5.0
1.9
6.9
18.0
33.6
4.6
1.5
1.5
9.0
9.4

3.4
5.0
2.4
1.8

21.1
2.7
3.4
34.0

3.3
2.7
4.7
4.3
9.9
10.5
.5
1.2
3.8
6.5

7.7
1.1
1.0
3.3
2.1

.7
.6
1.1
2.1
1.6
.4
.2
.3
1.9
1.9

10 Southern States «

100.0

37.0

14.6

4.4

10.7

2.1

1.1

(s)

.8

In every State a large group of those not reported here were dressmakers, seamstresses, and milliners,
not In factories.
1 In Kentucky 740 women (2.9 per cent) were in shoe factories.
1 In Maryland 1,742 women (4.8 per cent) were In metal industries.
* The proportion of all women so employed in the United States who were in the 10 Southern States
was as follows:
Percent:
Percent
Textiles
19.01 Certain clothing Industries.
9. &
Cigars and tobacco
35.9 Lumber and furniture
_
17.2
Food industries
11.4 j Printing and publishing
7.2
> Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
1

TABLE IV.—Number of women in manufacturing and proportion of these in
textile, tobacco, and certain clothing industries, 1880 and 1920, by State

State

Number of women in
all manufacturing
Industries

Per cent of women in manufacturing who
were in—
Textiles

1880

1920
1.930,341

25.3

24.4

1.7

5.1

10.7

13.9

Alabama
Florida
Georgia
KentuckyMaryland
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia

3,530
629
7,209
7.6S7
14,711
1,789
5,528
3,811
3.636
8,449

15,103
10,923
28,970
25,536
36,195
6,067
46,655
21,029
22.585
28,371

39.3
1.6
34.0
3.4
14.fi
29.6
37.7
36.4
21.4
10.4

55.7
.7
52.2
6.2
9.1
22.5
62.4
74.9
44.0
16.6

.2
49.3
.9
27.5
4.5
0)
21.1
2.7
3.4
34.0

.7
.3
1.6
9.0
16.0
.4
2.0
1.0
2.8
1.8,

5.0
1.9
6.9
18.0
33.6
4.6
1.5
1.5
9.0
9.4

10 Southern States

56,979

241,434

20.9

37.0

.4
16.1
.1
2.7
1.8
.1
8.8
(0
.9
31.8
6.7

14.6

6.3

10.7

i Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.




1880

1880

1920

Certain clothing industries

631,215

United States.

1920

Cigars and tobacco

18S0

1920

1 2

WOMEN'S

PLACE

IN

INDUSTRY

IN

10

SOUTHERN

STATES

TABLE V.—Legal limitation of working hours for women, by State
Legal limit
fixed for—

State

Alabama

Florida....
Georgia...

Establishments to which legal limit applies
Daily
hours

Weekly
hours

None.
None.
10

None,
None.

Kentucky.

60

Maryland.

Mississippi-

North Carolina

Men and women in cotton or woolen mills.'
Excepts clerical force, cleaners, and specified
occupations that employ chiefly men. M a y
exceed daily but not weekly limit.
Laundries, bakeries, factories, workshops,
stores or mercantile, manufacturing, or
mechanical establishments, hotels, restaurants, telephone and telegraph.
Manufacturing, mechanical, mercantile, printing, baking, laundering establishments.
Excepts fruit and vegetable canneries. Provides for certain emergencies in certain parts
of the State.
Women in enumerated list or " a n y other occupation not here enumerated." Excepts
domestic service.
Men and women in mills, canneries, workshops, factories, or manufacturing establishments. Excepts fruit or vegetable canneries,
and emergencies.
Factories and manufacturing establishments.
Same for men with some exceptions: Excepts
office men and specified occupations that
employ chiefly men.
Women in mercantile establishments

South Carolina
10
Tennessee

10M

Virginia..

Men and women in cotton and woolen mills.1
Specified overtime allowed for emergencies.
Enumerated list, or " a n y kind of establishment wherein labor is employed or machinery used." Excepts domestic service,
fruit and vegetable canneries, and agricultural pursuits.
Factories, workshops, laundries, restaurants,
mercantile or manufacturing establishments.
Excepts clerical workers, fruit and vegetable
canneries, stores in smaller towns.

Legal prohibition
of night work

None.
None.
None.

None.

None.

None.

None.

Women in mercantile " n o t allowed" to work
after 10 p. m.
None.

None.

* Alabama was the first of the 10 States to pass hour legislation. The 8-hour law of 1887, applying to
manufacturing and mechanical industries, was repealed in 1894.
1 Of the women in manufacturing, industries other than textiles employ: In Georgia, at least 12,400
women, or over 40 per cent of all In manufacturing; in South Carolina, about 3,500 women, or more than
15 per cent of all In manufacturing.




PUBLICATIONS

OF

THE

WOMEN'S

BUREAU

[Any of these bulletins still available will be sent free of charge upon request]
•No. 1. Proposed Employment of Women During the W a r in the Industries of
Niagara Falls, N. Y. 16 pp. 1918.
No. 2. Labor Laws for Women in Industry in Indiana. 29 pp. 1919.
No. 3. Standards for the Employment of Women In Industry. 8 pp. Fourth
ed., 1928.
No. 4. Wages of Candy Makers in Philadelphia in 1919. 46 pp. 1919.
•No. 5. The Eight-Hour Day in Federal and State Legislation. 19 pp. 1919.
No. 6. The Employment of Women in Hazardous Industries in the United
States. 8 pp. 1921.
No. 7. Night-Work Laws in the United States. (1919.) 4 pp. 1920.
•No. 8. Women in the Government Service. 37 pp. 1920.
•No. 9. Home Work in Bridgeport, Conn. 35 pp. 1920.
•No. 10. Hours and Conditions of Work for Women in Industry in Virginia.
32 pp. 1920.
No. 11. Women Street-Car Conductors and Ticket Agents. 90 pp. 1921.
•No. 12. The New Position of Women in American Industry. 158 pp. 1920.
No. 13. Industrial Opportunities and Training for Women and Girls. 48 pp.
1921.
•No. 14. A Physiological Basis for the Shorter Working Day for Women. 20 pp.
1921.
No. 15. Some Effects of Legislation Limiting Hours of Work for Women.
26 pp. 1921.
No. 16. (See Bulletin 63.)
No. 17; Women's Wages in Kansas. 104 pp. 1921.
No. 18. Health Problems of Women in Industry. 6 pp. Revised, 1931.
No. 19. Iowa Women in Industry. 73 pp. 1922.
•No. 20. Negro Women in Industry. 65 pp. 1922.
No. 21. Women in Rhode Island Industries. 73 pp. 1922.
•No. 22. Women in Georgia Industries. 89 pp. 1922.
No. 23. The Family Status of Bread winning Women. 43 pp. 1922.
No. 24. Women in Maryland Industries. 96 pp. 1922.
No. 25. Women in the Candy Industry in Chicago and St. Louis. 72 pp. 1923.
No. 26. Women in Arkansas Industries. 86 pp. 1923.
No. 27. The Occupational Progress of Women. 37 pp. 1922.
No. 28. Women's Contributions in the Field of Invention. 51 pp. 1923.
No. 29. Women in Kentucky Industries! 114 pp. 1923.
No. 30. The Share of Wage-Earning Women in Family Support. 170 pp. 1923.
No. 31. What Industry Means to Women Workers. 10 pp. 1923.
No. 32. Women in South Carolina Industries. 128 pp. 1923.
No. 33. Proceedings of the Women's Industrial Conference. 190 pp. 1923.No. 34. Women in Alabama Industries. 86 pp. 1924.
No. 35. Women in Missouri Industries. 127 pp. 1924.
No. 36. Radio Talks on Women in Industry. 34 pp. 1924.
No. 37. Women in New Jersey Industries. 99 pp. 1924.
No. 38. Married Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1924.
No. 39. Domestic Workers and Their Employment Relations. 87 pp. 1924.
No.40. (See Bulletin 63.)
No. 41. Family Status of Bread winning Women in Four Selected Cities. 145
pp. 1925.
No. 42. List of References on Minimum Wage for Women in the United States
and Canada. 42 pp. 1925.
No. 43. Standard and Scheduled Hours of Work for Women in Industry. 68
pp. 1925.
No. 44. Women in Ohio Industries. 137 pp. 1925.
No. 45. Home Environment and Employment Opportunities of Women in Coalmine Workers* Families. 61 pp. 1925.
No. 46. Facts about Working Women—A Graphic Presentation Based on Census
Statistics. 64 pp. 1925.
No. 47. Women in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the State of
Washington. 223 pp. 1926.
• Supply exhausted.




13

14

W O M E N ' S PLACE IN INDUSTRY I N 10 SOUTHERN STATES

•No. 48. Women in Oklahoma Industries. 118 pp. 1926.
No. 49. Women Workers and Family Support. 10 pp. 1925.
No. 50. Effects of Applied Research upon the Employment Opportunities of
American Women. 54 pp. 1926.
No. 51. Women in Illinois Industries. 108 pp. 1926.
No. 52. Lost Time and Labor Turnover in Cotton Mills. 203 pp. 1926.
No. 53. The Status of Women in the Government Service in 1925. 103 pp. 1926.
No. 54. Changing Jobs. 12 pp. 1926.
No. 55. Women in Mississippi Industries. 89 pp. 1926.
No. 56. Women in Tennessee Industries. 120 pp. 1927.
No. 57. Women Workers and Industrial Poisons. 5 pp. 1926.
No. 58. Women in Delaware Industries. 156 pp. 1927.
No. 59. Short Talks About Working Women. 24 pp. 1927.
No. 60. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
316 pp. 1927.
No. 61. The Development of Minimum-Wage Laws in -the United States, 1912
to 1927. 635 pp. 1928.
No. 62. Women's Employment in Vegetable Canneries in Delaware. 47 pp.
1927.
No. 63. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 51 pp. 1927. (Revision of
Bulletins 16 and 40.)
No. 64. The Employment of Women at Night 86 pp. 1928.
*No. 65. The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of
Women. 498 pp. 1928.
No. 66. History of Labor Legislation for Women in Three States; Chronological
Development of Labor Legislation for Women in the United States,
288 pp. 1929.
No. 67. Women Workers in Flint, Mich. 80 pp. 1929.
No.68. Summary: The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of Women.
(Reprint o l Chapter 2 of Bulletin 65.) 22 pp.
1928.
No. 69. Causes of Absence for Men and for Women in Four Cotton Mills. 24
pp. 1929.
No. 70. Negro Women in Industry in 15 States. 74 pp. 1929.
No. 71. Selected References on the Health of Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1929.
No. 72. Conditions of Work in Spin Rooms. 41 pp. 1929.
No. 73. Variations in Employment Trends of Women and Men. 143 pp. 1930.
No. 74. The Immigrant Woman and Her Job. 179 pp. 1930.
No. 75. What the Wage-Earning Woman Contributes to Family Support. 20
pp. 1929.
No. 76. Women in H-and-10-cent Stores and Limited-Price Chain Department
Stores. 58 pp. 1930.
No. 77. A Study of Two Groups of Denver Married Women Applying for Jobs.
11 pp. 1929.
No. 78. A Survey of Laundries and Their Women Workers in 23 Cities. 166
pp. 1930.
No. 79. Industrial Home Work. 20 pp. 1930.
No. 80. Women in Florida Industries. 115 pp. 1930.
No. 81. Industrial Accidents to Men and Women. 48 pp. 1930.
No. 82. The Employment of Women in the Pineapple Canneries of Hawaii.
30 pp. 1930.
No. 83. Fluctuation of Employment in the Radio Industry. 66 pp. 1931.
No. 84. Fact Finding with the Women's Bureau. 37 pp. 1931.
No. 85. Wages of Women in 13 States. 211 pp. 1931.
No. 86. Activities of the Women's Bureau of the United States. 15 pp. 1931.
No. 87. Sanitary Drinking Facilities, with Special Reference to Drinking
Fountains. 28 pp. 1931.
No. 88. The Employment of Women in Slaughtering and Meat Packing.
(In
press.)
No. 89. The Industrial Experience of Women Workers at the Summer Schools,
1928 to 1930. (In press.)
No. 90. Oregon Legislation for Women in Industry. (In press.)
Pamphlet. Women's Place in Industry in 10 Southern States. 14 pp. 1931.
Annual Reports of the Director, 1919*, 1920*, 1921*, 1922, 1923,1924*, 1925, 1926,
1927* 1928*, 1929, 1930, 1931.
* Supply exhausted.




o