Historical ContextThe history of women in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were granted traditional roles in society. Most women worked at home. While 18% were young or poor women, they also worked in factories as factory workers, producing items for the burgeoning industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this period the workplace did not comply with current safety regulations. There was still no minimum wage, working conditions were horrible and people worked long hours: “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink-collar jobs” or “women's jobs” that paid less than men's wages. These jobs such as secretaries, waitresses, textile workers and housekeepers are still significantly underpaid today. Many widows and mothers were unable to make ends meet and often had to make their children work to support the family. Women had no right to change these conditions or their circumstances. The inability to take part in the democratic process was something many women were angry with; Alice Paul was one of them. Alice Paul grew up in a Quaker home that believed in the ethic of hard work and gender equality (Hawranick, 2008). Women were not commonly educated and if you were poor you had little access to education. Alice's mother, Tacie, was an educated woman and expected her children to be as well. Tacie sometimes took her daughter with her to suffrage meetings, and Alice learned more about discrimination against women. Alice went to college when she was 16. He graduated from Swathmor......middle sheet......melia, R. (1983). The two look for Alice Paul. Frontiers VII(1), 21-24.5. Graham, S. (1983). Woodrow Wilson, Alice Paul, and the women's suffrage movement. Political Science Quarterly, 98(4), 665.6. Hawranick, Sylvia. , Doris, Joan, M., and Daugherty, Robert, (2008). Alice Paul: Activist, advocate and one of our own. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 23(2), 190-195.7. Lakewood Public Library. (2011). Women in History: The Biography of Alice Paul. Retrieved from http://lkwdpl.org/wihohio/paul-ali.htm8. United States Department of Labor. (1980). Bureau of Labor Statistics: Current Population Survey. Perspectives on working women: a databook.9. American work in the 20th century10. by Donald M. Fisk Bureau of Labor Statistics This article originally appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of Compensation and Working Conditions.11. Originally published: January 30, 2003