Culture
From April of 1861 until May of 1865 the American Civil War was going on. The Civil War impacted northeastern culture by throwing it into a wartime culture. Men were expected to be masculine and go off to fight in the war, while women were expected to either stay home and take care of the children or to work as nurses taking care of the wounded soldiers. Many women also began war work such as supplying food and clothing and organizing fundraising campaigns, with some women even joining volunteer brigades. Although the war took away time from the suffrage movement, it proved beneficial because it helped expand many women’s ideas were about their true capability and importance.
Once the Civil War was over, the U.S. entered the reconstruction period (1865-1877); this period saw an intense reconstruction of the South. This reconstruction led to a “violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South” (History 2017) and led to outrage in the North. Women’s organizations on both sides of the racism issue became more vocal during this period. Many Southern white women created societies to “preserve the memory of the ‘Lost Cause'” (NPS 2017) while Northern women formed associations dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage. Two of these women included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, well-known for their work in the women’s rights movement. The argument over suffrage for people of color brought even further into light the issue of women’s suffrage and the end of the reconstruction period saw a women’s suffrage amendment introduced to the U.S. Congress.
Following the reconstruction period was the gilded age (1877-1900) which saw an increase in American production and efficiency in industry, an increase in city’s populations, and a wide variety of social classes. While there were incredibly wealthy people like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan, there were also struggling families that battled extreme poverty on a daily basis. This period of time affected women differently depending on which social class they resided in. If they were of the upper class, she was still expected to display “class and status” and demonstrate “etiquette and propriety” (Radford). Women of the lower class however, often had to work in order to help provide for their families. Common jobs included working as a servant/maid, in textile or food processing factories, or in department stores in large cities.
During Emily’s adult life, the tools, devices, appliances, and machines in use depended highly on one’s social status. In the mid-late 1800s many common devices did not even exist. However, during the gilded age (1877-1900s) more appliances, machines, and devices were developed and made common goods.
A woman of the upper class didn’t use many tools, devices, appliances, or machines in her daily life. Some upper class women involved in social activism may have used telegraphs, typewriters (after 1873), telephones (after 1876), or printing presses. But for the most part, women were expected to be homemakers and display class and etiquette at all times.
Women of the lower and middle class most likely used many more tools, devices, appliances, and machines because of the nature of their work. As mentioned above, many lower and middle class women worked as servants/maids or in factories. This would have brought them into contact with objects like the sewing machine, dishwasher (after 1889), zipper (after 1893), and common factory machines.
Trends
The earliest data I found was from 1900 where the U.S. Department of Labor found that women of age 16 and older made up only 18.3% of the labor force. When taken into consideration that most women at the time worked in the domestic field or factories, the chance of women working in a STEM field is rather low. In fact, 70 years later in 1970, the U.S. Census Bureau found that women only represented 1.3% of civil engineers.
During the reconstruction era and gilded age, women’s formal education wasn’t very highly recognized nor encouraged. In fact, in 1940 the U.S. Census Bureau found that only 3.8% of women aged 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Over time, women have gained more equality in the STEM field, although some areas of STEM have gained more equality than others. For example, NCSES found that in 2015 there were 21,707 mechanical engineering degrees awarded to women and only 615 nuclear engineering degrees awarded to women. As a whole, women have become a more active part of the labor force making up 56.7% in 2015 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was also found that in 2015, 19.3% of people in the construction or civil engineering field were women. Education equality has also improved with 41% of women aged 25-64 in the labor force having a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Emily’s informal education of civil engineering provided her with the tools and methods necessary for building the Brooklyn Bridge. Her business management skills including talking to contractors, engineers, and financial supporters of the project allowed her to be successful in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Biography
Washington’s father, John A. Roebling conceived the idea of the Brooklyn Bridge and set Emily’s path by sending Emily and John to Europe in 1867 to research bridges that could potentially be used as models for the Brooklyn Bridge. However, when John died from complications of an on-site injury, Washington took over his role as chief engineer. Then, when Washington became bedridden due to decompression sickness from working on-site, Emily developed an informal education of engineering. She studied math, strength of materials, stress analysis, and cable construction among other civil engineering topic. 16 years after completion of the bridge, Emily expanded her education by obtaining a law degree from New York University and became one of the first female lawyers in New York.
Emily’s first and most notable job in the STEM field was working with her husband on the Brooklyn Bridge project. Before her husband was diagnosed with decompression sickness Emily didn’t have that much of a role in the project. However, as her husband’s condition got worse, Emily’s responsibilities as her husband’s liaison increased. What started as simply running information from the site to her husband, eventually developed into her answering questions from officials and contractors, keeping records, and representing Washington at social functions. In fact, “she displayed such proficiency in the issues of construction, materials, and cable fabrication that some observers concluded she had assumed the duties of chief engineer” (Britannica 2016). Twice during her time on the Brooklyn Bridge project, Washington’s ability to lead the project was called into question and both times Emily was able to speak to the people concerned, and save her husband’s position. One of the groups she spoke to was the ASCE meeting where she became the first female to address the group. After 13 years of work, Emily was in the first carriage to cross the bridge. On opening day, Congressman Abram S Hewitt stated that “the name of Emily Warren Roebling will…be inseparably associated with all that is admirable in human nature and all that is wonderful in the constructive world of art” and that the bridge would be an everlasting monument to the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been too long disbarred” (ASCE).
After the bridge was completed, Emily worked as a nurse and then as a construction foreman at Montauk, Long Island Camp. In addition to STEM work, she also got involved in the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Huguenot Society, and other civic organizations.
Technology
Another prominent factor of the Brooklyn Bridge is that it was “the longest-span suspension bridge in the world at that time and the first to be built with steel cables” (ASCE). Benefits of using steel cables include the ability to fabricate the cables off-site, ductility (stretchable), toughness, weld-ability, corrosion resistance, and high tensile strength (high level of support when stretched out). Although it was unheard of at the time, it’s now typical for suspension bridges to be hung from steel wire cables.
As with any science, methods are constantly being re-developed and improved. In the late 19th century, most suspension bridges were only used for small spans and were often held up using iron chains. At the time that Emily was working on the Brooklyn bridge, experiments using cables made of wires had only been around for 30 years. Although 30 years may seem like a long time, in the world of structural theory, this is actually a pretty short amount of time when one takes into consideration that the technique can impact many people’s lives.