WomenIn new urban society birth rates decreased while divorce rates increased. On the farm, another child was another helping hand and in the city another child meant another mouth to feed. Under the stress of the city there were more divorces.People seemed more lonely in crowded cities than on farms . The perception of women also changed in the book "Women and Economics", where Charlotte Perkins Gilman rejected traditional femininity and said there were no real differences between men and women. Women still push for the right to vote and in 1890 Western states give women the right to vote. But Female suffrage was given to white women only. Led by Ida Wells, black women went against lynching and helped start the National Association of Colored Women.
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As women continued to fight for their rights and promote their values in society, they decided to create a home where destitute immigrants could go and would be provided with food, shelter, and clothing. They were taught how to speak proper English, how to cook, and how to adapt to the American culture. Hull House was the first of the settlement houses to be built. Created by Jane Addams in 1889 in Chicago it was intended to serve as a model for future settlement houses that would later be built. By the start of the 20th century, nearly 100 settlement houses filled the cities of the nation. Due to the increase in houses, there was also an increase in women employment as social workers, a new profession thanks to Jane Addams.
Children
Children started to get jobs because factory owners saw them as more manageable, cheaper, and not likely strike. Children worked in mines, glass factories, textiles, as newsboys and messengers. Poor children and their families relied upon child labor in order to improve their conditions. Child labor forced millions of children out of school and into work.