num_pages: 165
description: In the nineteenth century Woman's Exchanges formed a vast national network that created economic alternatives for financially vulnerable women in a world that permitted few respectable employment options.One of the nation's oldest continuously operating voluntary movements -- many are still in business after more than a century -- the Exchanges were fashionable and popular shops where women who had fallen on hard times could sustain themselves by selling their handiwork on consignment -- without having to seek public employment. Over the century Exchanges became an important forum for entrepreneurial growth and an example of how women used the voluntary sector -- which had so successfully served as a conduit for their political and social reforms -- to advance opportunities for economic independence.
language: English
title: The Business of Charity: The Woman's Exchange Movement, 1832-1900
titlecomplete: The Business of Charity: The Woman's Exchange Movement, 1832-1900 (Women in American History)
ratings_count: 6
publisher: University of Illinois Press