Topic > Women Workers Organization (1887) - 1594

Women Workers Organization (1887)Leonora M. Barry was born in County Cork, Ireland, on August 13, 1849. She was raised by her parents, John and Honor Granger Kearney ( en .wikipedia.org). Leonora lost her mother at an early age and had to face many family difficulties. But he persevered and became a school teacher at the age of 15. In 1880, Leonora's husband died and she had to raise three children alone. Leonora needed money so she got a job in a factory where she worked for two years. The factory was a miserable place to work with terrible hourly wages. However, he needed money to support his family. In 1884, Leonora Barry joined the Knights of Labor and campaigned to abolish child labour. Leonora was chosen to travel to several factories and record her observations about the poor working conditions in the factories for women. He traveled to the largest industrial cities. This task pushed Leonora to write “Organizing women workers”. () Leonora was also driven to write the article by her personal beliefs and opinions. He had worked in a factory for two years earning no more than 65 cents in the first week, but he managed to keep that factory job going for two years (www.patheos.com). Leonora traveled to many different factories along the east coast during her tenure with the Knights of Labor. Its main aim was to draw attention to the wages and poor working conditions of women and children in the workforce. As he travelled, he wrote in his diary about the places he visited and the working conditions he observed. Many of the most surprising encounters occurred in the factories of Virginia (www.njwomenshistory.org). Leonora recorded many of her discoveries in her diaries. He wrote about factory conditions, like… half the paper… because it was so similar to the book. From reading our textbook and further researching Leonora M. Barry and her significance as a famous woman in history I learned how determined she must have been to write diaries exposing the mistreatment of women and children by many factories. Leonora was a courageous woman who wanted to show people how difficult it was to be a woman or child working in factories during the rise of industrial America. He wrote his articles knowing that he would receive judgment and negative reactions, but he continued to write. Eventually people sent the items to inspectors who they knew could help Leonora. They worked together for many years and succeeded in abolishing most child labor, improving women's working conditions, and increasing women's wages. Leonora is a significant woman in history and her articles changed the working conditions of women.