Single Working Women's Day – August 4, 2024

History of Single Working Women's Day

Women have been a part of the labor force as far back as written records show. When agriculture was the chief occupation, both men and women shared in the heavy physical labor.

The Industrial Revolution brought a lot of changes to the work situation, for both men and women. At first, many families worked in factories as teams. By the mid-19th century, however, because of a growing protest against the treatment of women and children in these factories, the roles changed again. Women were increasingly assigned domestic chores, and men were the sole providers. The minimum age for child labor, appropriate working hours for men and women, and restrictions on women performing certain hazardous tasks — all these rules were set in this period.

The traditional role women performed in society continued until well into the 20th century. Soon, social and economic developments turned the tide once again. There was an increase in demand for public education, which required more teachers. Rapidly growing industries and organizations meant more workers were needed. Companies found they could hire women for simple tasks, often at a lower salary than their male counterparts. The initial wave of the women’s movement — when women came together for social issues like suffrage and temperance — raised women’s participation in the workforce to a great extent. At this time, still early on in the 20th century, most of the female workforce was made up of younger single women, as most married women in the U.S. did not yet work outside the home. The Census Bureau data shows only 25% of women at that time were ‘gainfully employed.’ Technology advances meant more and more physically demanding jobs could be accomplished with the push of a button and the ‘exclusively male’ tag on them vanished. Societies progressed, and the stigma and rules set on women entering the workforce gradually vanished.

Single Working Women’s Day was founded by Barbara Payne, a single working woman herself. Her unique perspective on being a single woman who held a job led her to see how much women just like her contributed to society. Payne and her friends would often wonder why there were so many holidays for mothers, fathers, and even friends, but there was nothing for single women. They then created the Single Working Women’s Affiliate Network and, subsequently, Single Working Women’s Day.