The Impact of the Factory System on Women

Author: Engels (1820-1895) was born to a family of Prussian (present day Germany) textile workers. He held a close friendship with Karl Marx under which their ideals of communism flourished. He was raised Lutheran, but later developed atheistic ideals and distanced himself from both his former religion and his family. He dropped out of high school and studied extensively the works of Hegel before joining the Prussian army in 1841. He, while still a soldier, stayed and studied at university in Berlin where he Marx. The two would later go on to become the forebearers of communism. Engels is most likely biased in the fact that he grew up rather poorly. This modest upbringing probably spurred some of his internal thoughts about the disparities between the rich and the poor. His life in Berlin and in other industrialized cities also likely changed his outlook because he was exposed to these conditions; men still living in the countryside would not likely have seen and/or heard of these horrific conditions.

Speaker: See above.

Date/Context: This particular work was published in 1844, three years after he became a soldier in the Prussian army. At this time in western Europe, factory conditions were extremely unfavorable. Children were working very long hours and very dangerous jobs and women were expected to work for sustenance while still raising kids and maintaining the household. Strain was evident in all levels of the working class (proletariat) and people desperately wanted change. They were also angry at the fact that owners of large businesses and factories led such carefree lives while others were born into work and died working, too.

Summary: Engels starts the document by explaining that women (at once both wives and mothers) who spend twelve to thirteen hours at the mill and men (at once both husbands and fathers) who work that same amount have no time for children. These children are essentially left to fend for themselves. After giving birth, women are expected to come back to work, yet they cannot breastfeed their newborns. As a result, their breasts hurt and their shirts become soaked with milk; the children often go hungry when the mother is away. Engels uses two women, M.H. and H.W., to reaffirm these claims. He also talks about how narcotics are used to keep the children still in the factory districts and how the separation of women from their children brings about the collapse of society. He ends by saying how fathers are negatively influenced by women being away as well and how children too often grow up without morals because of a lack of parental intervention.

Key Quotation: "The employment of women at once breaks up the family; for when the wife spends twelve or thirteen hours every day in the mill, and the husband works the same length of time there or elsewhere, what becomes of the children?"