Written in 1868, The Working-Girls of New York is extracted from the original essay, Folly As It Flies, by Fanny Fern. Notably, the setting of the essay is in the mid-nineteenth century New York when Industrial Revolution has struck the northern states of America.
The author illustrates women’s suffrage in living in this period whether or not they were married, rich or poor. Women with large income husband were left at home to keep the house when her husband was busy doing businesses outside. Rarely did he have time to care for his family. Whereas the poor working girls, they also had to live a hard life which were affected by Industrial Revolution. The author stresses the working and living condition of those working girls. They could hardly satisfy their basic needs. They had to share a small, dirty, stuffy room; they never had a properly cooked and nutritious food. In addition, their clothes were of low quality and torn. Talking about their workplace, it’s a ‘black-looking building’ where hundreds of working girls had to stand working in the assembly line from seven in the morning till six in the evening but received low wages compared to men. The machinery was deafening which a visitor to the factory would never be able to bear with more than five minutes.
The author sympathizes the young working girls who had to work like a machine. Although they were young in the age, they were almost like an adult in their look and their share of responsibilities in their family.
To conclude, the author intended to criticize the effects of Industrial Revolution had on the society, especially on women. This essay is to call for notice and reform to the prevalent issues happening in industrial workplace such as overcrowding, poor working conditions, sweatshops, child and women labor, and long working hours.
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