United States 1863

Synopsis

Just five years after its creation in 1863, the Working Women's Protective Union (WWPU) had established itself as a champion of working women. The WWPU did not consider organizing women to strike as one of its purposes. Rather, it focused its activities on forcing employers to pay women their agreed-upon wage and acted primarily as a resource for job training and legal defense and as an employment center. Though the WWPU was often criticized for not attempting to increase wages or supporting important labor legislation, it was considered a model for like-minded groups; representatives from across the United States and Europe traveled to New York City to study its structure so that they might create similar organizations. Interestingly, working women had no real power in the administration of the organization and acted in only an advisory...