Women’s history initiative

Over the centuries, women have undertaken many forms of paid and unpaid economic work. “Women’s work” is not limited to the home and childcare. The places of women’s work have included the …

• Hearth
• Sick room
• Threshing floor
• Spinning room of an early textile mill
• School room
• Department store
• Factory
• Commercial laundry
• Front office
• Laboratory
• Hospital operating room
• Computer in a home office

As New Jersey evolved from a pre-industrial society to the modern world, so did women’s work. New Jersey women shifted from primarily home-based work to the paid workforce. Today, more than half of New Jersey’s women find employment outside the home, including

• Computers
• Pharmaceuticals
• Trade
• Communications
• Finance

In 2022, women formed 55% of the state government workforce alone.

Socioeconomic forces still limit women’s career opportunities, even in more welcoming fields. Some barriers that generations of working women have faced include:

• Economic class
• Race
• Educational attainment
• Gender discrimination

Like women everywhere, New Jersey women have worked at the core of the home. Their labor running the household and bearing children is often overlooked and underappreciated. This has been true for

• Lenape women
• Early colonists
• Enslaved African American women
• Women in the growing middle class of the 19th century
• Working class and immigrant women
• Modern 20th century women

Often, a woman’s domestic work took the form of unpaid labor for her family. A wealthier woman might serve as a manager for the home’s care and management. Another woman might work for pay or room and board as one of those supervised domestic servants. Regardless of class, these women were responsible for domestic concerns such as:

• Food production
• Cleaning
• Laundry
• The manufacture or procurement of clothing and household equipment
• Childcare
• Nursing of children and adults

Each home in New Jersey is a document of women’s domestic lives, regardless of the era or economic status. A house’s design reflects building technologies and cultural sensibilities of the period. It can inform us about the technology a homemaker could access for household labor. The arrangement of a house’s spaces tell us about family activity and structure. Its location shows the family’s relationship to their neighborhood or community.

Women’s voluntary organizations are a major force for change in New Jersey. They drive community building, religious life, social welfare and environmental preservation. From the early 19th century to the present, women have worked together or with men to push social change. In groups or as individuals, women have

• Addressed issues and public needs where government was slow to act.
• Initiated social services.
• Founded institutions to serve the sick and needy.
• Pressed for improved education and health care.

Many lasting New Jersey institutions exist because of women’s leadership and passion.

New Jersey women’s position in politics drove state government policies and positions. The New Jersey Constitutions of 1776 and 1844 restricted women’s legal status. State laws further subjected them to reduced roles. Despite this, women worked persistently to gain equal rights with men. Even when they could not vote, they found alternate channels to make their voices heard. They found ways to engage with their communities and influence public policies. In the 19th century, women

• Organized associations to exert pressure on government.
• Petitioned and lobbied the legislature.
• Lectured in public.
• Published opinion tracts.
• Engaged in direct action protest.
• Even, for a brief period, voted in school elections.

Thanks to the work of women like New Jersey’s Alice Paul, women gained the national right to vote in 1920. Since then, they have been active voters in partisan electoral politics. They continue to seek direct representation and involvement at all levels of government. Meanwhile, they continue to struggle against gender bias in political processes.

Women’s education, or the lack of it, has shaped their role in society. External factors have often limited their access to education, including

• Economic class
• Religion
• Race

Moreover, society in early New Jersey history did not place the same value on a woman’s education. Unlike her male peers, a woman’s education tended to focus more on domestic and social skills. However, women’s traditional roles as “natural educators” led to a shift in the 19th century. They moved out of the home to teach many families’ children in new public schools. Women like Clara Barton were often the reason these public schools now existed. These advocates pushed for everyone, regardless of class, to receive a well-rounded education. In turn, policy changes have increased all New Jerseyans’ access to education.

New Jersey’s public and private schools continue to bear witness to this advocacy.

Work limited early New Jersey women’s participation in the arts and athletics. They performed hard physical labor in their homes or at work. This precluded leisure time or the energy to exercise to pleasure. Starting in the 19th century, however, this began to change.

Arts and culture

Women always produced domestic and folk art to enhance their homes. Starting in the 19th century, women began to enter the public art world. The evolution of women as public and professional artists continued as they

• Gained access to education and artistic training
• Developed markets for the sale of their work
• Began to be admitted to artistic forums designed and dominated by men

Examples of the artistic expression of New Jersey’s women exist in

• Public works of art
• Museum collections and galleries
• Libraries
• Public and private buildings
• Studios
• Performance spaces.

Sports and athletics

The 19th century revolutionized society’s views on health. In the latter half of the 19th century, two new movements influenced views on women’s health:

1. Some doctors and educators embraced theories of healthy physical exercise for women.
2. Dress reformers criticized tight corsets and sweeping skirts as unhealthy and restrictive.

This opened opportunities for women to engage in formal sport and recreational activities. Women in the growing middle class had leisure time to spend in informal sports such as

• Tennis
• Bicycle riding
• Roller skating
• Golf
• Hiking for pleasure

By the turn of the century, public high schools offered organized team sports for girls. Women and girls of means could enter competitive sports such as tennis and golf. We can still find the sites of these achievements by visiting New Jersey’s historic

• Gymnasiums
• Public sport facilities
• Athletic clubs and teams
• Country clubs

These athletic pioneers paved the way for the athletic freedom women have today.

The American historic preservation movement owes a great debt to women’s volunteer organizations. Since the mid-19th century, they have been a significant force in preservation. In some ways, these organizations’ history parallels the preservation movement itself. Their early volunteer efforts awakened popular interest in America’s architectural heritage.

It was the upper- and middle-class women who, by the late 19th century, had the leisure time to devote to

• Community efforts
• Generating publicity
• Raising money
• Buying and restoring properties

These women used their managerial skills to mobilize their communities. They instilled an appreciation for home, community and our collective past. In turn, this passion for history helped save many of the nation’s most treasured landmarks. In fact, a group of women saved Mt. Vernon in the first organized national preservation effort in the 1850s. Within New Jersey, women’s clubs and organizations saved many key Revolutionary War sites. Sites and museums like the Old Barracks in Trenton are open to everyone thanks to their efforts.