The Labor Movement, Women and Progressivism

Patrick Peters
History 300
Professor Gullett(and others)
February 15, 2012
The Labor Movement, Women and Progressivism
In the early 1900’s a new political movement arouse in this country called progressivism. Progressivism brought together several diverse groups who had opinions on the issues of the day. 2 of the most prominent were women and the working class. Together that brought about significant change in areas such as work place safety and pay, to community health standards. However of the two groups, the women, were the most important for 2 reasons.
First throughout most of the progressive era they were unable to vote and as such really had no political power. Next the issues the women’s groups fought for cut across most social classes and benefited the entire city, whereas the workers generally had an agenda that narrowly focused to their working conditions and pay.
The 2 case studies by Maureen Flannigan and Shelton Stormquist generally bear this out. The workers of Cleveland did have one advantage, strength in numbers. Once the Cleveland Cental Labor Union unified the labor movement in the 1890’s1, they started to show their muscle. In 1899 the Streetcar Union struck over objectionable work rules.2 That same year the workers in Cleveland came out in force for an INDEPENDENT candidate for Governor. These two events showed the power they had. The local Democratic Party seeing what was going on “moved to decisively recapture its lost constituency.”3 Since their agenda was narrowly based they were able to do so. In the end the workers movement got the reforms they wanted, but as a political class they were absorbed back into the Democratic Party.
To contrast the labor class, the women of Chicago had a broader mission: “…promoting the welfare of the city….”4 The examples cited by the Professor Flannagan include changing and upgrading city sanitation and improving city education. These are issues that appealed to the city as a whole. In addition the women were able to achieve results despite the disadvantage of grappling with the power brokers of the city who in some cases happen to be their husbands.5 While the women of Chicago got the vote for city elections in 1913 many women around the country did not get the vote until 1920. These factors made their achievements much more important.
There is no doubt that the achievements of women and the labor class in the progressive era were important, however studying the 2 representative examples given show that the work of the women had a far broader impact on society as a whole and the advancements they made were quite remarkable given the obstacles that stood in their way.

Bibliography
1) Stromquist, Shelton. The Crucible of Class:Cleveland Politics and the Orginis of Municipal
Reform in the Progressive Era. Journal of Urban History 1997 23:123. as referenced on
http://juh.sagepub.com/content/23/2/192.citation N.D. Electronic. 15 February 2012.
Pg. 197.
2) ibid pg. 200.
3) ibid pg. 209.
4) Flanagan, Maureen. Gender and Urban Political Reform: The City Club and the Woman’s City Club
of Chicago in the Progressive Era. The American Historical Review, Vol. 95. No. 4, October
1990. as referenced on http://www.jstor.org/pss/2163477. N.D. Electronic. 15 February
2012.Pg. 1032.
5) ibid pg. 1035.
6) Suffrage. Encyclepedia of Chicago. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society. 2005. as cited on
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1217.html N.D. 15 February 2012.