“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” This comes from the state of nature of Thomas Hobbes, who used it to describe the natural condition of mankind and the primitive society before there is a government, but he may never anticipate that it would happen in the twentieth century New York.  The Chapter 8 of Activist New York by Steven Jaffe introduces us the harsh living conditions of the women at that time and the intense social, family and even survival pressure of women have reached an unprecedented level. This is the exploitation of the capitalist and the lack of protection from the government deteriorated the situation. As highlighted by “Immigrant Women and Work” by Nancy Foner, the upheaval is inevitable since the pressure on female immigrants were suffering in such an inhumane way, just like the state of nature.

For the immigrant women, working and taking care of family is their way of showing value in the society and inside the family. As described by Nancy Foner, over 40% of the family income was contributed by the working female immigrants in the factories, at the cost of working at least fourteen hours a day with an extremely low wage. “They worked in hundreds of garment-making factory lofts, often for as little as three dollars for a 56- or 58-hour work week”(Jaffe 124). They did this for their family because they need to support their family to survive, not thrive in New York City. Socially, that was already the lower limit of their life in this city: they came here with no possessions and no land. Working in factories or at home was the only way to create income and maintain survival. This revealed the tragic fact: they have no way back except being exploited. Because of the competition of the factories and also the excessive supply of labor force, they only could receive the extremely low income and extremely poor working condition, which also increased their degree of suffering. “Fourteen hours you sit on a chair, often without a back, felling coats”(Foner 113). Meanwhile, the local government did not see this as severe issues because it would not affect the well-being of New York City and the people other than immigrants. On the other hand, the exploitation of the immigrants would continue benefitting the capitalists and landlords in the city, making the government less likely to protect the rights of immigrants.

Immigrant women in the family were having the same level of exploitation. They had to take care of the children and the household while making home products to earn money to support the family. “In addition, the poor living conditions and diseases were not providing a good environment for the women to work effectively. The contributions of women did not bring them to rise in the family status; they were still facing an imbalance status inside the family, which means the women had to face the pressure from husband or brothers. “Women were excluded from seats of power in the community and from positions in the religious sphere.”(Foner 116) Pressure from triple ways was added to women. In this situation, survival is the chief task in the family. As the lowest level in the family’s hierarchy, women were expected to suffer more than men did.

As the inhumane suffering went on, women’s opposition started to grow. 20,000 young garment workers picketed hundreds of shops in 1909. That means they were getting to be aware of the power of the group and started to establish trade union among themselves. “Many of these allies belonged to the Women’s Trade Union League …and working-class women in efforts to unionize female workers and to win the vote for women”(Jaffe 126). That means women, as one of the most important while also the most marginalized group since the patriarchal society, started to raise their power and gain independence after the severe sufferings. The settlement reached in February 1910 was the temporary victory of female workers and was the transition of this group from an outsider of the country to the activists in the development of the city. After that, the group expanded its influence from New York City to the whole country. The National Labor Relations Act, known as the Wagner Act, brings the vision of resistance for the working class over decades.

Although in the early times the female immigrant workers suffered greatly from the poor living and working environments and various social, economic and family pressure. The spirit of resistance made them fight for their rights altogether, which later became a power of activism in New York City. It was not only a victory for women, but it was also the success of the activist in New York City.

-Z.L