“I think that the factory is the best place for me and if any girl wants employment I advise them to come to Lowell,” said Mary Paul, a worker at Lowell Textile Mill, in a letter to her father. For the first time in American history, women could find work and live in boarding houses, away from their families. It was life changing. American women’s lives were changed for the better with their employment at the Lowell Textile Mill. The women working at Lowell Textile Mill changed the idea of what people thought about them. When society pictured women before the Lowell factory, they envisioned them staying at home, and cleaning, cooking, and working on the family farm. Women were not expected to have a job outside the home.…show more content… The women had a place to live, be fed, and make money. They didn’t have to rely on a husband to provide money, shelter or clothing, as the women working at Lowell were supplied with clothes to wear. Some of the girls came from families who couldn’t afford to buy clothing. The arrangements at Lowell helped make women become independent. The women were paid for their work at the Lowell Textile Mill. Although some money was taken out of their salary to pay for housing, many women sent money to their families. Before working at the mill, women didn’t have an opportunity to assist their families. “I could earn more to begin with than I can any where about here. I am in need of clothes which I cannot get if I stay about here and for that reason I want to go to Lowell or some other place,” said Mary in another letter to her father.
The women were required to attend church while working at Lowell’s. They also had to follow strict rules regarding attendance, cleanliness of their boarding houses, and personal conduct. Lowell’s had two systems for terminating employees - either honorable discharge or dishonorable discharge. Women who were honorably discharged received recommendations, which allowed them to obtain future employment easily. Dishonorably discharged employees had a much more difficult time getting another job. The guidelines Lowell’s established helped build women
