Norma Rae Case Study Zach Newcomb 9/27/11 “Leadership in Norma Rae” Just imagine working maximum hours for minimum wage while trying to support a family. This is the scenario for single mom Norma Rae Webster. Her occupation involves working in a southern cotton mill. The condition of the workplace is bad, respect of employees is lacking, to sum it up all the workers and Norma is underpaid and overworked. Norma Rae's parents also work at the mill and it takes a great toll on both of them mentally and physically.
Many workers lost hearing from loud machinery, lost limbs in hazardous equipment, and even lost their life due to the apathy of factory owners. The pay for such jobs remained meager despite these risky conditions. The average blue collar employee received $3.50 an hour, barely enough to get by in society. To make matters worse, workers were forced to work long hours during the week, usually over ten hours a day for six to seven days a week. With such appalling conditions, industrial workers were forced into action.
In the eighteenth century most children were not receiving the best education. Women were being undermined in these institutions and it forced them and their children to look for other alternatives. In Margaret’s case, the readers get a sense that their economic life was difficult. Her husband and daughter, Mabel had to go to work in factories in order to meet ends meet. This is a new beginning where women left their houses to go and find jobs, “Job opportunities for women were better in the United States, particularly Massachusetts, the cradle of industrialization in North America.” In Margaret’s case readers get an insight of the middle class and working class family.
ESSAY DELISCA KETURA During 1800 – 1900, the lives of workers and their conditions were changed. A lot of the changes were made, because of the accidents, and truths revealed through muckrakers, for example child labor. This was a major part of the work force. Kids all ages wouldn’t have a normal life, because they were always working. Whether it was to try to help their parents make more money, or to feed themselves, they would work.
Graduating from Strathmore College in 1901, Alice later went on to receive additional including earning a PhD. and graduating from a law school. While studying social work in England, she was introduced to more radical ideas in the Women’s Suffrage movement. No longer a timid Quaker girl, Alice became a radical advocate for women’s rights when she met Christabel Pankhurst, one of the daughters of Emmiline Pankhurst. The Pankhurst women were militant suffragist who stood by the notion of “deeds, not words”.
I chose Jane Addams because of her efforts, determination, leadership, dedication, and social concerns in child labor, immigration, crowded urban conditions, and social conditions among the poor. Jane Addams was the founder of the Settlement House Movement. She and Ellen Starr founded Hull House in Chicago of 1889. She was the first American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Jane Addams was a selfless giver of ministrations to the poor and a mover and shaker in the areas of labor reform (laws that governed working conditions for children and women).
Through perseverance and a passion for her work, Addams was able to typify image of a progressive reformer as well as achieve her goals like help immigrants learn English and American culture, and to support families that were struggling both physically and mentally. But this was no easy feat as the young woman had to face many obstacles and stay strong to build the settlement house known as Hull House. Progressive reformers pursued for a solution to the problems created by industrialization and urbanization. The reformers wanted to protect working people, and close the gap between social classes. Their main focus was education, as well as focus on family and women’s suffrage.
Since their husbands were laid off, bringing in little or no money, the women went out to look for part time jobs such as being a maid to the wealthier families. The women also had a hard time keeping her young children in school, especially if they lived on a farm because the children would need to help their mother and father with the animals and crops, so they wouldn’t get a proper education. The few women that went to collage had to drop out because the price was too high to afford to stay in. It was harder for women to get a job because they were weaker than men and most likely inexperienced but they would take what they could get, if they could get anything. The women who was at their last resort was to send their children away to work and earn a small pay to buy food.
Vulnerable mothers that do not finish getting their education become discouraged and loose the motivation and drive to tackle the oncoming challenges that life brings, creating for them another barrier on the micro level; it being a financial barrier. “Poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent, and involved parenting and render parents more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of negative life events” (Vonnie C. McLoyd, 1990 p.311). Not being financially stable brings on a lot of stress that impacts the relationship between the mother and child. Education has a large impact on a person’s life and it can change it for the better.
More importantly, it hurts the lives of the many people that were working for Hostess. They can't make a living without a job, without a job they wouldn't have the money to pay for their bills or even their house and might even add to the growing population of homeless people. It would also hurt the states in which the bakeries or plants were shut down. Also, the liquidation affects the people who love Hostess, people who grew up with Hostess, and the new-coming babies that won't be able to enjoy any of their products anymore. The Union is supposed to help the economy, not take away businesses that will help it.