Data Literacy for Social Studies (based on Gozen et al., 2024), Female Ownership Shares Across the 10 Most-Common Industries: General Industries, 1850-1880

Women's role in the economy shifted during the antebellum period, and this played an important part in the growing momentum of the suffrage movement. Although female-owned establishments accounted for less than 2.4% of establishments in all states and were smaller than male-owned establishments, they also employed more women and paid them higher wages. We created this bar graph using U.S. Census data from 1850 to 1880 and based on the work of Ruveyda Gozen, Richard Hornbeck, Anders Humlum, and Martin Rotemberg from their 2024 paper, "Historical Differences in Female-Owned Manufacturing Establishments: The United States, 1850-1880." It shows the ten general industries with the highest share of female-owned establishments. The graph highlights that clothing establishments were the most common female-owned establishments, with 8% of all clothing establishments being female-owned. Female-owned establishments made up no more than 2% of the nine other general industries. Social norms and gender roles strongly influenced women’s primary involvement in industries such as clothing during the 19th century.