In the 20^th chapter of Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives, he takes a deeper look into the lives of the young girls and women working in factories in the late 1800’s.  He follows the stories of a few young women who each describe long hours for pay that is way below sufficient to support themselves, nevertheless the families they often have to provide for at home.  Riis is concerned with the state of women workers as a whole, crossing ethnic lines.  He positively states that these young women are very much aware of the injustices being thrown upon them, and describes a meeting of the Working Women’s Society, which stated that the minimum wage idea seems not to apply to women, as it does for men.  He concludes the chapter with an idealistic sentiment, claiming that “a better day is dawning.”  Unions, and other women-centered organizations were beginning to be recognized.  However, he postulates that the result of this discrepancy in pay leads many of these young women to prostitute themselves.  Perhaps it is a sign of the time in which the book was written, but he merely alludes to the growing trouble of young women finding work by selling themselves, and makes it sound as if it is inevitable.  Currently, women in the United States are still more likely to sell themselves and be sold by others than men.