WOMEN AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION
OR
THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL CHANGES UPON THE
STATUS OF WOMEN

BY
THERESA SCHMID McMAHON, Ph. D.
Sometime Fellow in Sociology
The University of Wisconsin
Instructor in Political and Social Science, University of Washington

A THESIS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
1908

MADISON, WISCONSIN
1912

CONTENTS

PAGES
[Introduction][5-10]
[Chapter I. The Status of Women and Primitive Industry][10-19]
[Chapter II. The Status of Women in Early Historical Times][19-28]
[Chapter III. The Effects of Industrial Changes Upon the Homes of the Working-Poor][28-37]
[Chapter IV. The Effects of Industrial Changes Upon the Homes of the Middle-Class][37-49]
[Chapter V. Women of Leisure][49-57]
[Chapter VI. Status of Women and Home Industry Among Professional Classes][57-69]
[Chapter VII. The Effects of Industrial Changes Upon Marriage][69-80]
[Chapter VIII. Economic Forces and the Birth-Rate][80-88]
[Chapter IX. Economic Changes and the Divorce-Rate][88-97]
[Chapter X. The Political Rights of Women and Industrial Changes][97-114]
[Chapter XI. Conclusion][114-124]

INTRODUCTION

In dealing with the evolution of home industry and its effects upon the status of women, it will be necessary to note briefly the status of the sexes before marked differentiation took place.

As a matter of fact, we know very little about mankind before the beginning of recorded history. It is true we have various examples of primitive culture existing at the present time, and to a considerable degree they illustrate the different stages of culture through which civilization has passed; but there is no proof that different types of social development have not existed in the earlier periods. These different types may have been out of harmony with the existing environment, and hence were eliminated by the struggle for existence. It does not follow that the eliminated types were inferior to the surviving one, but that they proved less fit in a conflict of certain forces. For instance, a peaceable race has often been at a disadvantage when contending with a warlike and aggressive one, and its institutions have been overthrown in the struggle.

What has been true in the conflict of races may be equally true in a conflict for authority between the sexes, if such a conflict ever existed. In a period of history when severe struggles between peoples were common, feminine rule was not compatible with such struggle.