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Industrial Strength Women

Brooklyn's factories helped power the nation, and women helped power Brooklyn's factories, producing products from shoes to sugar, from battleships to Bazooka gum. No single industry ever dominated Brooklyn, as happened in many other cities. Instead, countless middle-sized enterprises flourished, making this America's fourth largest industrial center in the first half of the 20th century.

From the earliest years of the industrial revolution, employers saw women as an untapped resource and also as cheap labor, usually paying them less than men. Today, women continue to provide much of the energy that drives Brooklyn's factories.