Nancy Foner’s chapter titled, Immigrant Women and Work, was an interesting read, because it addressed issues that I had not previously thought much about. In Eastern Europe, Jewish women were more likely to work outside of the home than they were once they moved to New York. Jewish women came from a culture that offered them contradictory messages. On one hand, Orthodox Judaism is patriarchal and positions of power were reserved for men, yet women were active in the economic realm of their communities. Then once these Jewish women immigrated to New York, there was a new sense of order. In New York, it was understood that “a man of character never let his wife work.” I am still unclear as to what exactly facilitated this trend in New York. Is it an American ideal to have the woman in the home? Perhaps it was during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Certainly today there is no such notion; more and more women are the main breadwinners of their families.
Another previously unknown facet of immigration for me was the piece about young immigrant women handing over their entire paycheck to their family. Even in this regard, there was gender inequality. The young men were “less pressured to contribute all their earnings and typically received larger allowances than their sisters.” Also, daughters were expected to help out with housework or younger siblings, while sons were not. This double standard existed within education for immigrant children, too. Foner discusses that “Jewish daughters often went to work to support their brothers’ pursuit of education.” This is unsettling to me. I liked to think that even though the young men were more apt to go to school, they were not doing it at their sisters’ expense.
Foner also discussed that working outside of the home allowed young immigrant women to make new friends, discuss fashion trends, learn about American culture, and speak freely without adults around. She called this a “bright spot” for these young women, and I guess in a sense it was preferred over staying in the home, but the same goals could have been accomplished in a school setting. This just emphasized for me the problems with having young children and teenagers working. It is healthy for children and teens to get to know one another and learn about the world in a school setting, not in the brutal conditions of the factories. A world in which children’s’ human rights to education, regardless of sex, religion, and economic standings, is the world that I hope we are striding towards.
