Male and female workers’ changing rooms from the "The Textile Factory" exhibition. National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia, Terrassa.
The male and female workers’ lives revolved around their working hours. Control of working hours meant a huge transformation to working life, with a new system of organisation and discipline. The signal that marked the beginning and end of the working day was the sounding of a bell, or more frequently, a siren. In 1913, the working day usually lasted about 11 hours. Working conditions were arduous: long working hours, high levels of humidity and noise, air filled with dust and specks of fibre, etc. Wages were low, and women were paid less because men and women’s pay was not equal.
