Basic Information

Rose Schneiderman, born in Poland, was a Jewish immigrant who moved to the United States on April 16, 1882. As a prominent first-wave feminist, Schneiderman has diligently worked on improving the basic human rights for working women in America and also participated in the suffragist movement (Orleck, 2009).

Background Information

Born in Saven Poland, Schneiderman was supported by her parents in terms of education. The family’s strong Jewish background valued education for women as well, which allowed Schneiderman to attend a Russian public school at a young age. However, as her family moved to New York City in 1890, she had to jump into the workplace at the age of thirteen to support her family following her father’s death. Her family had struggled with poverty, which led Schneiderman to have her first job in retail at the department store. Despite having a relatively respectful job that a woman can have at that time, the retail job had a very poor wage so Schneiderman decided to take a job at a cap making factory. A job at the factor had better wages than the department store, but the job was very dangerous and provided no protection or insurance (The Workmen’s Circle, 2013). Although the United Cloth, Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers Union existed at that time, the union was composed of men only. As she has joined the Union, her leadership was quickly acknowledged and she became the first female official of the union. Her working experiences at the factory had drawn her attention to fighting for the improvement of the working environment for women, followed by advocating for women’s voting (PBS, 2020).

Contributions to the First Wave

Schneiderman is well known for her quote “the women worker needs bread, but she needs roses too” in 1911. As becoming the president of the New York Women’s Trade Union League (NYWTUL), her focus was on the organization of women workers. Her role as an activist became very clear after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911. This fire killed 146 people in less than 20 minutes, which victims were mostly young Jewish and Italian women immigrants (The Workmen’s Circle, 2013). As the dangerous work environment and unknown cause of the fire showed the inequality that women workers just like herself were exposed to, Schneiderman established the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and led a strike in 1913, with a speech saying “I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship … This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city” (Argersinger, 2009). As the president of the NYWTUL, she was focused on establishing a minimum wage, eight-hour-day-legislation, and education for women workers (The Workmen’s Circle, 2013). Schneiderman also had a big role in influencing the Social Security Act of the New Deal legislation and many other pieces as well, although the NYWTUL itself was not able to make many changes in laws that were limiting married women to work in the labor force at that time (Wayne, 2014). During her later life in activism, Schneiderman’s Jewish background led to her passion for helping Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. During the 1930-1940s, she aided in rescuing European Jews and their resettlement in the United States or Palestine. In addition, she played a big role in the fundraising held in Palestine by Leon Blum Colony for the Jewish refugees (Orleck, 2009).

In the 1920’s, Schneiderman’s work on the labor condition for working women conflicted with other equal rights feminists. As equal rights feminists proposed the Equal Rights Amendment indicating that all legislations should apply equally to every individual regardless of sex, Schneiderman thought that the Equal Rights Amendment did not take account of the abuse working-class women had to endure for a long time. She pointed out that the Equal Rights Amendment failed to protect working women from dangerous working conditions and unequal wage regulation, and that they should acknowledge that men and women require different labor legislations. As men were already in privilege for a long time, she argued that feminists should focus on speaking for working women who have been under force and oppression (Orleck, 2017). Her divergence from some former suffragist movement allies represented the increasing conflict among suffragists based on their class during the first-wave feminism.

Schneiderman had a close relationship with her fellow female union leaders including Pauline Newman, Fannia Cohn, and Clara Lemlich. Schneiderman and Newman were most deeply involved in government legislation projects in order to change the laws for unions. Their work in government agencies was able to give them more power in their work, but they also had to compromise with the limitations that were placed onto them. Although Cohn and Lemlich disagreed with some aspects of Schneiderman and Newman’s work and Schneiderman’s focus on cross-class women’s movement, they all worked towards the same goal of first-wave feminism by organizing working-class women unions, fighting for equal rights legislation, and expanding the opportunity of education among women. Schneiderman and Newman especially had a good relationship as they became a part of each other’s lives when both decided not to get married (Orleck, 2017).

Along with her contributing work in working-class women’s unions, Schneiderman was also a representative suffragist. She led the New York Women’s Suffrage Association in 1917 (and a member of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, NAWSA) and was an influential speaker who spoke for women’s voting in rallies and lectures across the country. As she participated in many meetings with politicians to speak for suffrage on behalf of the NAWSA, she was well known for her strong but heart touching speeches. When debating the suffrage question with New York senators in 1912, she emphasized the struggles of working women and indicated that claiming their voting rights is not emasculation, but rather an economic necessity.  She also took part in meeting Woodrow Wilson in 1914 with 4 other suffragists to plead for support of women’s suffrage. (Suffragist Memorial, 2020).

“I can’t talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by is strong working-class movement.”

~ Rose Schneiderman (Argersinger, 2009)

Analysis and Conclusion

Schneiderman’s work connecting the women’s rights with the labor union and ultimately with the suffragist movement was one of the most important aspects of first-wave feminism. When Schneiderman first jumped into the worker’s union, she had to face harsh disapproval from the male-dominant association. However, she was never intimidated, and her stirring speeches were able to draw substantial attention to labor unions as she emphasized the hardship of women in the labor force. Her role as the first female leader in the union brought attention to working-class women who had been neglected for a long time.

Schneiderman did have successful accomplishments in pushing legislation in favor of unions. However, as she worked under government agencies for a period of time, some of her colleagues viewed her work as being less proactive. This showed that the first-wave feminists did not all have the same directionality and opinions in their activism. Her conflict between equal rights feminists also shows that the women had divided opinions with the suffrage movement. There were many arguments between older upper-middle-class women who led the initial suffrage movement and newer trade union women like Schneiderman. However, regardless of the divergence and the right-or-wrongs of their perspectives, their fight towards universal rights across gender and class were all influential towards first-wave feminism. Schneiderman opposing the Equal Rights Amendment shows her struggle on being the professional representative of working-class women, and how much she cared about the labor movement as a Jewish working woman herself. As such discussions on equal or special treatment for different communities in the workplace is still going on, recalling Schneiderman’s perspective on this argument can aid to the ongoing development of workplace equity.

Schneiderman’s quote on bread and roses is still recalled frequently in modern feminist movements, and her contribution in bringing awareness to women’s work field was a key factor in the feminist movement that we should continue to discuss. Her work brought up the discussion on worker’s rights, and how labor is something more than merely earning a living. To Schneiderman, the feminist and labor movement was taking care of herself and other women just like her. By watching so many working women suffer at their workplace, Schneiderman’s activism was a notable accomplishment to bring awareness to those whose rights have not been discussed for a long time. We cannot say that workplace equality is established now even over 100 years after Schneiderman held her rallies; thus, bringing back her contributions and ideology can be an important recall of history needed in the present.

References

(ca. 1907) Miss Rose Schneiderman, New York, Vice-President of the Women’s Trade Union of N.Y.C. United States New York, ca. 1907. [to 1918] [Photograph] Retrieved November 5, 2020, from http://www.loc.gov/item/mnwp000051/.

Argersinger, J. (2009). The Triangle Fire: A brief history with documents (Bedford series in history and culture). Boston: Bedford/st Martins.

Harris & Ewing, photographer. (1935) Rose Schneiderman, Pres. Of Nat Women’s Trade Union League. United States United States, 1935. [Photograph] Retrieved November 1, 2020, from https://www.loc.gov/item/2016881684/.

Orleck, A. (2017). Knocking at the White House Door: Rose Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, and the Campaign for Labor Legislation, 1910–1945. In Common Sense and a Little Fire (pp. Common Sense and a Little Fire, 2017-10-02). University of North Carolina Press.

Orleck, A. (2009) “Rose Schneiderman.” Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Jewish Women’s Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2020, from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schneiderman-rose.

PBS. (2020). She was one of the most influential leaders of the American Labor movement. PBS. Retrieved November 5, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/she-went-working-factory-advising-president-zeyjko/14409/.

Suffragist Memorial. (2020). Rose Schneiderman. Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. Retrieved November 5, 2020, from https://suffragistmemorial.org/rose-schneiderman-1882-1972/.

The Workmen’s Circle. (2013). The triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911. The Workmen’s Circle. Retrieved November 5, 2020, from https://circle.org/jsource/the-triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-of-1911/.

The Workmen’s Circle. (2013). Rose Schneiderman. The Workmen’s Circle. Retrieved November 5, 2020, from https://circle.org/jsource/rose-schneiderman/.

Wayne, Tiffany K, & Wayne, Tiffany K. (2014). Women’s Rights in the United States. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC.