CLEP US History I

Answer: A - Lowell factories were staffed almost entirely by women for all of the reasons listed except that financial independence made them less likely to marry. Although women in the Lowell Factories earned wages, they were not necessarily entitled to keep them. Much of what they earned would be sent home to their families on the farm. Women were perceived as easier to manage and less likely to strike. However, as women became educated, which they were as part of living in the factory communities, they began to demand shorter hours and higher wages, sparking one of the earliest industrial labor movements. As a result, they were replaced with immigrant labor.