- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
Before the Civil War women rarely held jobs outside the antebellum view of what work women could do. With the first Conscription Act of April 1862 this changed. The Confederate government was forced to hire women in various departments. One of the first to do so was the Treasury Department and indeed the Treasury Department hired more women than any other department in the government. The government need the workers and in many cases the women needed the income. Competition for the jobs was intense, but those hired received a reasonable wage, women that signed Treasury notes were expected to sign 3,200 notes per day. Because "Treasury Girls" only worked from 9 AM until 3 PM they were not full time workers and were paid half what male clerks made. Still in 1862 $65 per month was not considered a bad wage for women.
I do wonder if hiring women during the War had any real impact on the attitude of what type of work women could do? Still in World War One and World War Two it still seemed that most people did not believe women could do jobs that these women early proved they could do.
I do wonder if hiring women during the War had any real impact on the attitude of what type of work women could do? Still in World War One and World War Two it still seemed that most people did not believe women could do jobs that these women early proved they could do.