Poster - 'Slaves & Angels': Women & the Industrial Revolution (Women's History Series: 4)

By the Poster-Film Collective, 1983. Part of a series of posters on Women's History.

This poster links closely to another one in the series, and looks at women's role and responsibilities within the home. It contrasts the experiences of middle-class women and working-class women in the 19th Century. Poor women had no choice but to work in the factories and mills but were not treated as equals to men and had to complete a second shift of unpaid work within the home. A woman's worth was measured on the standard of her home and the provisions she made for her family, putting great pressure on her to fit the 'Angel of the House' expectation. This system of oppression continued for another century until the Women's Liberation Movement, although arguably a version of it still exists today.

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Source: Feminist Archive North