WTUL, an Attack on the Society Hostile to the Working Women at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The Womens Trade Union League (WTUL), established in 1903, generally has been evaluated as a failure both as labor movement and feminist movement. Not objecting to such evaluation of WTUL, this paper attempts to address to the main issues that the organization intended to fight against: the unfavorable working conditions of working women and their bad images. Instead of investigating the organization itself, this paper presents in detail the working conditions of the working girls; mistreatment of the employers, low wages, hostile working environments including bad ventilation and strict rules, It also presents the hostility of the conservatives and the male unionists who draw the working girls negative images. It reminds readers of the fact that the Progressivists. mainly women, who launched and maintained the leading roles of WTUL targeted those two aspects. From this perspective, it asserts that WTUL may be evaluated to have achieved a certain level of success.