This work investigates how the transition of women into the industrial workforce between 1900 and 1930 fundamentally altered the structure of family life and gender roles in the United States. Leslie Woodcock Tentler, a historian specializing in American social and labor history, utilizes archival records, census data, and contemporary sociological reports to examine the intersection of economic necessity and domestic expectations. The book argues that wage labor did not immediately liberate women from traditional constraints but instead created a complex, often contradictory set of pressures as they navigated the demands of the factory floor and the household.

Historians and sociologists frequently cite this text as a foundational study for understanding the early 20th-century female labor experience. Experts highlight the author's ability to balance broad economic trends with the granular, lived experiences of the women she documents.