Hard Work

“Women get paid less than men, but rent costs the same, and our laundry and clothing cost more.” Although it might sound contemporary, this complaint comes from a 19th-century worker. In 1888, Flora Haines was hired by Maine's new Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics to hand out surveys to over 600 working women, and while some of the resulting comments may sound surprising to modern ears (one worker is unhappy not getting 10 hours a day--i.e., enough hours to make ends meet), most complaints accurately reflect the miseries of doing repetitive work in uncomfortable postures, in unsafe and unsanitary buildings, for the typical 10 hours a day, six days a week. Filmmaker Jim Sharkey's Hard Work examines the history of women working outside the home/off the farm in the late 19th century through the survey responses, exploring tensions between natives and foreign workers, between women who worked to eat and girls who worked for “pin money,” and even between adults and cheaper child labor. It's a rare treasure to find so many working women's first-person accounts from this era, combined with photos--all from Maine archives--that have not been widely seen before. While centered on Maine (and to a lesser extent, the National Historic Park at Lowell, MA), the wealth of information related to women working in early industrial America is of national interest (and should not be relegated to some local history ghetto). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)