Women and Girls in the Textile Mills

Women and girls made up a large share of the workforce in British textile mills, especially in spinning preparation and later in power-loom weaving. Employers often hired them because they could be paid less than men and were assumed to be more docile, while families depended on their wages. Mill work gave many young women an independent income and new friendships, but it also meant long hours, dust, noise and the risk of injury from unguarded machines.

Middle-class observers worried that factory work undermined family life, a concern that shaped laws limiting women's hours in 1844 and 1847. Historians debate how these laws should be judged: they protected women from exhausting hours, but they also reinforced the idea that women were dependents rather than full workers. Women also took part in strikes and protests, challenging the image of passive mill girls.