were becoming teachers during this period, and it was continuously being associated as a female entity. Women were allowed to engage in certain social affairs. Although this did not include fighting for the reduction of labor hours or the elimination of child labor, it did encompass helping the poor, which was the immediate motive behind establishing Hull House. Reaching out to women who needed a place to stay, or workers who could not afford to live in the crowded and unsanitary apartments that usually stuffed several families in one room, could find shelter in Addam’s creation. However, Addams worked extended beyond the “private sphere” in too many areas to ignore. Her struggle led to many social and political reforms; she took a very radical political stance for her time, breaking her association from the standard middle class women. Hull House was unique in the sense that it held a position in both the public and private spheres of society. Within the private sphere, women in the Addam’s settlement house ran the household, raised children, taught about the necessity of morals, and preached about religion. In addition, Hull House members offered assistance to their community, which later encompassed the realm of the private sphere. Such actions included teaching, daycare, art galleries, and libraries. “…Hull House in the very beginning opened what we called College Extension classes with a faculty finally numbering thirty five…” (Addams, p. 197). Addams efforts however, also extended into the public sphere, something only intended for men to enter. Her stance on many issues impacted social life in nearly every way, from children labor reforms to better working conditions for the poor. “The educational activities of the settlement, as well as its philanthropic civic, and social undertakings, are but differing manifestations of the attempt to socialize democracy…” (Adda...
