Changing Roles in the Work Force During American Industrialization
The Chinese prostitute was a product of the gold rush in California. With men flocking from all over the world, there was a need for sexual satisfaction. Many of the men did not bring their families, because gold mining required the ability to move a lot. So to counter the extreme lack of women, Chinese women were imported and traveled to America as prostitutes for their own personal endeavors, or because they were forced to by organizations or their own families (Cheng). The reason women turned to prostitution is that it was a cheap form of labor, and held a large potential to make a lot of money. Many of the early prostitutes were able to amass large sums of money and invest them in other businesses, or start their own brothels. Others immigrated back to China and lived happily there. Being a prostitute in California was not easy, however. Independently, a prostitute could make a lot of money, if they could afford the expenses of travel to the various locations. Independently they were able to keep all the profit, and were not bound to anyone in particular. However, many women lacked the education or ability to properly run themselves, and would often be incapable of independently selling themselves. This led some women to become part of organizations. These organizations imported women from China, whether by kidnapping them or luring them with, “promises of gold, marriage, jobs, or education” or by contractual agreement with their family (Cheng). These organizations were run by entrepreneurs who understood the business aspect of prostitution. Unfortunately, these organizations exploited their prostitutes extremely. Many owners treated their prostitutes poorly, and many of them did not receive regular wages (Cheng). The contracts in which they would be bound to were not beneficial to the prostitutes, but to the other people involved in the contract such as the owner or the importers. Chinese prostitutes were divided up between two different kinds of prostitutes, an upper and lower class. Upper class prostitutes dealt solely in Chinese clientele, while lower class ones dealt with white men as well. It was a severe blemish to have sexual relations with a white man, which is why they were considered lower class. Racially they were segregated from the white prostitutes, and were looked down upon as an inferior race (Cheng).
The working class male suffered from a different set of problems from the Chinese prostitute. The working class male was being exploited in their labor, not receiving the wages they deserved, or the rightful conditions they deserve to work in. Businesses hoarded profits amongst the few while throwing crumbs to the masses that produce all the labor that propels their businesses to such heights. This inequality spurred laborers to produce unions to fight for issues of the workplace. Unions protected the rights of the worker, and held businesses accountable for maintaining a proper workplace, and also pushing for better wages and benefits. Unions pushed legislation to mandate an age limit for youth in the workplace, an issue previously overlooked in industrialized factories (Gompers). The division of wealth between the few and the masses created a class divide which is still present today. The class divide between the rich minority and the poor and middle class majority was more evident in the days of industrialization because many of the middle class and poor laborers lived in urban areas where sanitization and overall quality of life was still very low. Crowded slums breed disease, and with little money to pay for medication, quality of life needed to be improved. The white middle class male was forced to provide for his family while battling low wages, which were growing lower due to immigrant’s willingness to work for lower and lower wages (Gompers). Work on the most part was fairly plentiful due to industrialization creating a boom in factories for people to work in. The factories also drew people from rural areas into the city, which created a transition of the middle class male as a rural agricultural entity to more of an urban based industrial worker. Working long hours in the factory as opposed to working on the farm at your own home created a demand for the women in the workplace, and a refreshing of the true womanhood.
African- American house workers were exploited much like Chinese prostitutes, but in a different way. Most of the jobs paid very low wages, and there was very little they could do to change it. Some African- Americans tried to quit jobs if they paid little and search for better ones. But legislation was pushed that made it harder for African- Americans to release themselves from contracts that were detrimental to them. Deceiving contracts were used to unwittingly keep them in bad deals for longer than they know. African- American women were accused of spreading disease in the household, specifically malaria (Lloyd). They were accused of being dirty and were overall looked down upon as the slavery days. The poor image of African- Americans created a stigma that allowed for the low wages to remain that way. Some African- Americans took a lesson from the Unions of white middle class males and formed their own groups to push for the bettering of work conditions. The use of boycotts and strikes created unrest in households, and seeking a quick resolution and return to normalcy many households would give in to those demands (Lloyd). Households do not see a strike as a loss of profits, but more as the loss of service, and the continuation of that service outweighs the loss of it. Racially African- American’s were still inferior in the eyes of the white society. Although technically equal, they were on the same level of Chinese immigrants, the level below white people. Also, race prevented many of their attempts for bettering the work place from being seriously heard or contemplated.
The ignorance of many African- American’s and Chinese immigrants was exploited by the white society. Contracts were used to deceive both of them into thinking they were signing something worthwhile, but actually stuck them in the servitude of an uncaring and abusive owner with little benefits. The period of Industrialization was a time of exploitation for all of these groups, but the middle class male made the most advances with its use of the Union. African- Americans lacked the resources or ability to organize on such a large scale way, but used similar forces to achieve lesser but relatively sequential goals. The Chinese prostitute on the other hand was forced to struggle in a system that did not give her much respect or means of creating a successful life. Each class was exploited by a higher power that few are receiving most of the money from and each were the mass at the bottom of that chain receiving little of the money they deserve.
While it can be argued that each of these classes made several important advances in how they were perceived in their respective areas, there was a lot of road to tread before they would be considered respectable, if at all. The Chinese prostitute was shunned for its disrespectable occupation and racial inferiority, but was pivotal in the western industrialization, as they supported the sexual desires of the men that became the laborers in the factories. The African- American house worker also suffered from racial discrimination, but was held of higher value due to their occupations contribution to the white society. The white middle class male suffered from injustices of the rich denying the poor their rightful claims, but started to learn the power of Unions and strength in numbers in achieving goals for the individual.
