"The Woman's Invasion - Rheta Childe Dorr, William Hard - Everybody's Magazine

Image accompanying William Hard's article "The Woman's Invasion." Written for Everybody's Magazine.

Description

Dorr spent the better part of 1906 and 1907 under contract to Everybody's Magazine to witness and experience the feminization of the trades. She went undercover to work in the accounts division of a department store and as a commercial laundress and then in a number of factories across the country, including manufacturers of shirts, cakes and biscuits, and spun yarn. She struggled with writing for publication and was assigned a collaborator who overtook her command of the project. When the magazine advertised his byline alone for an upcoming series heralded as "The Woman's Invasion," Dorr threatened legal action and her byline was restored. "In the truest sense," she later said, "the articles were not mine."

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Effects and Outcomes

Dorr moved on to write for Hampton's Broadway Magazine, where her pieces on the effectiveness of club women eventually became the basis for her book, What Eight Million Women Want.

Media History

The reporting was intended for these media types: Magazine, Book

I-"The Woman's Invasion" - William Hard; Rheta Childe Dorr -Everybody's Magazine

1908-10-01

"Editor's Note - We began two years ago to gather the facts for this series of articles on the woman at work. The original investigations were made by Mrs. Rheta Childe Dorr, who obtained employment in certain typical manufactories and department stores, and lived among the working women in our great mill centers. Dr. Wey, an able sociologist, who had been connected with the United States Census Bureau, was engaged for six months supplementing the facts collected by Mrs. Dorr. Finally, ten months ago, all this material was turned over to William Hard, who again went over the ground, interviewing labor leaders, manufacturers, and working folk -- gaining a first-hand knowledge of this great subject. The importance of the conditions revealed cannot be overestimated; and in presenting Mr. Hard's articles, we desire our readers to realize how thorough has been the research on which they are founded."

II-"The Woman's Invasion" - William Hard; Rheta Childe Dorr -Everybody's Magazine

1908-12-10

"Editor's Note - Some of the costs of women's work were shown in the first installment of the series -- the appalling connection between mothers working and babies dying; and how the health of future generations is menaced by home conditions in factory towns. Yet it was demonstrated how millions of women must work in factories, and how their presence there has proved the most potent factor in shortening working hours of men. In this number is presented a remarkable study of the woman worker, who in becoming a soldier of industry, does not become a professional soldier. It will enable you to understand the most objectionable feature of woman in industry -- her irresponsible cheapness."

Undercover Reporting