Question

Read the summary about factory work during the Industrial Revolution. With the development of new technologies and manufacturing processes, the nature of factory work changed. Now, machines could do the heavy labor formerly done by men. This meant that women and children could work in factories. In fact, factories sometimes hired entire families. They earned hourly wages. While this could bring in a steady income, that income was not high. Women earned less than men, and children’s wages were especially low. The underlined sentence identifies a central trend. provides some key details. makes clear the writer’s opinion. states the main idea of the summary.

Answer 1

The Industrial Revolution promoted new technologies in production that replaced human labor. Together with this, the industrial mode of production is developing, more and more factories with large plants are growing. The need for workers is high, so migration of population from village to city is recorded, more and more labor is in search of a job that can bring a stable income. This creates a large number of workforce, even more than needed, so workers are willing to do anything, even for a lower hourly rate. Employers have the opportunity to reduce the hourly rate due to over-labor supply, and so they can pay less for women and children under unequal treatment between men and women, especially children. People are fundamentally blackmailed to work for a low hourly rate because there was always workforce available. The conclusion is that, in the conditions of industrial production, only employers could earn more on the basis of the use of excess worker value, while workers earned less on behalf of employers' profits.

Answer 2

The Main Idea if the Summary is the Inequality in labor conditions, such as hourly pay and working benefits between Men and the minority group composed of Women and Children.

The Industrial Revolution, which started during the second half of the 18th century, brought many improvements in society, as it improved economic conditions of Women, who previously were limited to doing housework and earned much less in comparison to an hourly wage working at the factories.

However, improvements will be considered as such only for a limited period of time, as issues such as gender equality and labor conditions will start to come out as a result of the new realities of manufacturing industries in the country. These issues would later be addressed with the appearance of social movements whose purpose was to reduce the gap in gender inequality, as well as the appearance of labor unions, which lobbied in favor of improving working conditions for workers.