Growing up in the shadows of your sibling
These type of jobs were seen as an improvement over factory work, and by the 1920s public schools were holding teaching classes for girls learning office skills.
A century ago commercial candy production flourished, and women were right there helping this popular industry expand.
The garment industry grew with the demand for cheaper clothes, and by increased mail-order catalog and department store sales. It was mostly women who created these garments.
This was tedious and repetitious labor. Women would inspect tobacco leaves, roll cigars, pack boxes, or apply labels, while men undertook more physical tasks.
Opportunities for hairdressers and manicurists grew as the salon business expanded. Women enjoyed working with innovations such as electric hair dryers, and techniques like permanent wave and hair color options.
Mill jobs involved guiding fibers into machines to clean and smooth cotton before spinning.
Seamstress and dressmaking jobs were open to women, although they were low-paying, seasonal, and demanding.
Launderers and laundresses worked in other people's homes. The job involved sorting, washing, starching, ironing, and folding.
Farming was seen as a family business and women did everything, from menial tasks to keeping the finances in order. They also handled seasonal jobs like slaughter work and pickling foods.
Demand for board and lodging grew as workers moved away from home in increasing numbers to seek employment.
Jobs in millinery were on the decline in the early 1900s as the demand for ready-to-wear accessories grew. However, women still worked in this trade.
The growth of large-scale retailing at the start of the 20th century provided job opportunities to women as in-store clerks. These women worked long hours in poor conditions for low pay.
These jobs were subject to close supervision by administrators. Music education was typically taught by elementary school teachers, who were mostly women.
Jobs as midwives were disappearing as the medical profession realized that a birth required the assistance of trained professional doctors in hospital settings. However, midwifery saw an increase in isolated regions and among poor communities.
The rise of department stores provided jobs for urban working-class women. However, saleswomen were paid half as much as men.
Printing and publishing jobs were available as the industry advanced technologically.
In line with traditional gender roles, women had options to become domestic servants, such as housekeepers and housemaids.
Men operated heavy machinery while women carried out lighter work such as cutting, pasting, finishing, stitching, and packing.
These early telecommunications jobs created a demand for skilled operators, and women were hired in part because of smaller hands, which were deemed to be suitable for the quick and detailed work. Plus, they could be paid less than men.
Silk mills were lucrative, but labor-intensive. The silkworms had to be well-protected, and the silk itself cleaned, separated into skeins, wound onto bobbins, twisted into yarn, and put on looms for weaving.
Teaching was considered an acceptable job for women, but the wages and conditions were terrible. Teachers could lose their jobs for incompatible teaching methods, wearing the wrong clothing, being over 40, or for getting married.
Dressmakers would often work for upper-class women who didn't want to sew or mend their own clothes.
Stenographers used shorthand to take down dictation, and typists wrote it up. These skills were important if one wanted to become a secretary.
At the turn of the 20th century most nurses worked for individual patients in their homes. That all changed with the onset of World War I, when 23,000 American nurses served in the military. After returning home they used their training gained in hospitals to provide more sophisticated care.
Women found work in mills after their male counterparts were called up to fight in World War I.
Sources: (Stacker) (Grunge)
See also: When women were granted the right to vote around the world
Women were hired as telephone operators for their more soothing voices. They often took diction and elocution classes to improve their speech.
In the early 20th century women enrolled in home economics education at colleges and universities and were being trained in nutrition, quantity cooking, and large-scale dining management. This helped them find work in the restaurant and hospitality sectors.
In the '20s, cheap and moderate-priced restaurants like cafeterias grew popular. In these less formal places, women instead of men were hired as serving staff.
Even if there's still a long way to go, the past century has been a remarkable one for women in the workplace. Back in the 1920s, women were mainly employed in low-paying positions, jobs such as clerks, waitresses, teachers, and telephone operators. It was an era when people believed working women were taking tasks away from men who needed them more. In fact, plenty of high-paying jobs were kept out of the reach of women, who were anyway expected to quit paid employment if and when they got married.
To see how far we've come, click on and discover how the job market looked for women 100 years ago.
Housekeepers were the heads of female staff, managing cooks, nannies, housemaids, kitchen maids, and laundry maids.
The most common jobs held by women 100 years ago
Women have been part of the work force for a century
LIFESTYLE History
Even if there's still a long way to go, the past century has been a remarkable one for women in the workplace. Back in the 1920s, women were mainly employed in low-paying positions, jobs such as clerks, waitresses, teachers, and telephone operators. It was an era when people believed working women were taking tasks away from men who needed them more. In fact, plenty of high-paying jobs were kept out of the reach of women, who were anyway expected to quit paid employment if and when they got married.
To see how far we've come, click on and discover how the job market looked for women 100 years ago.