Reading Comprehension

Throughout their histories, feminism and organized labor, both of which took hold as major social movements during the rise of progressivism at the turn of the twentieth century, have shared common concerns and objectives. Some of the most militant and high-profile leaders of the early U.S. labor movement were women, and early women's rights groups often worked in conjunction with trade unions to campaign for a variety of issues affecting women workers, such as pay equity, child care, and improved working conditions. The relationship between labor and women's rights groups, however, was not always cooperative. To feminist labor activists, the interests of women and workers were inherently intertwined, but, as a number of recent labor historians have observed, many early trade unions did not share this view. Some unions made a concerted effort not only to exclude women from membership but also to keep them out of the workforce altogether. Many male union leaders saw the growing number of women who worked outside the home as competition, flooding the market and taking men's jobs. Women were often seen as unskilled labor driving down wages, or as potential strike breakers. Yet, rather than harming the cause of labor, female-dominated unions staged some of the largest and most effective strikes of the early 1900s. Although a large portion of female workers were unskilled, the sweatshop conditions many such workers faced may have provided them with a greater incentive to act aggressively on behalf of their unions.


The author of the passage mentions the observations of recent labor historians (lines xx-xx) most likely in order to....


provide support for a claim made in the preceding sentence (lines xx-xx)


pose a question that is answered in the final sentence of the passage (lines xx-xx)


present a point of view that challenges an assertion made in the first sentence of the passage


introduce an alternative opinion to the one attributed in the passage to many male union leaders


point out a contradiction inherent in feminist labor activists view of trade unions and the womens rights movement