Reference no: EM133618453

Question

Women began to join the industrial workforce, primarily in textile mills, but they earned wages amounting to half or less than what men earned. Children eventually joined the industrial workforce as well, earning only a quarter of what men earned, and their jobs were usually dangerous. The British government banned children under 9 years old from working in factories and outlawed shifts longer than 8 hours for older children. Often times, however, employers ignored these laws to keep their cheap labor and poor families ignored them to continue receiving the much-needed income that their children brought in. The British government attempted to provide poor relief by introducing the Speenhamland system which would supplement the income of the poor with money from property taxes. After it began inspiring landowners to lower wages, however, the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 established workhouses. Unfortunately, occupants of these workhouses were treated harshly. With begging outlawed by towns, many poor were forced into the workhouses. The efforts made by the British government to alleviate issues of poverty and child labor were less effective than they had hoped.