Pink Collar Workers: Rebecca Lukens

Rebecca Lukens (1794-1854) is known as the first female CEO in the United States. She ran Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory, successfully guiding it through a difficult economic recession and a rapidly industrializing workplace. 

For Further Reading: 

• Rebecca Lukens: A woman of iron
• Rebecca Lukens Resource Center
• America’s First Female Industrialist Rebecca Lukens Was The Original Iron Lady

This month, we’re bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed! We’ll be talking about Pink Collar Workers: women who revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called "women's work." Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This August, we're bringing back some of our
favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. All month will
be talking about pink collar workers. These women revolutionized jobs
that have traditionally been called women's work. Through their lives,
they created a more just and humane world for us today.

(00:22):
With that, here's one of our favorite episodes. Hello from
Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we're talking about workers, women who fought for
labor rights and shaped the way we do business today.
They advocated and innovated to make the office wherever it is,
a more equitable place. Today's womanquin is recognized by many

(00:47):
as the first woman CEO in the United States. For
more than two decades, she successfully ran her family's business.
She challenged gender norms in the workplace, and adapted to
change during a period of rapid industrialization. Let's talk about
Rebecca Lukens. Rebecca was born in seventeen ninety four in

(01:08):
Chester County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Quakers, and their faith
played a big role in her early life. She went
to two different Quaker boarding schools She also got a secondary,
less formal education. Her father, Isaac, was the owner of
Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory, a business that produced

(01:30):
iron products like nails, wheels, barrel hoops, and blacksmith rods.
Isaac would often take Rebecca on business trips with him
and teach her the intricacies of his work. It was
actually on one of these trips that Rebecca met her
future husband, doctor Charles Lucans. Charles was a Quaker and

(01:52):
a physician with his own practice in another town in Pennsylvania.
The two married in eighteen thirteen, and after that Charles
changed his career path. Instead of pursuing medicine, he joined
Isaac in running Brandywine. As Isaac got older, Charles fully
took over the day to day operation of the mill.
Charles often consulted Rebecca when making business decisions. At the

(02:20):
turn of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was in
full swing. This transition ushered in the modern era. Instead
of making goods by hand, many businesses started to rely
on machines to do the work for them. Charles and
Rebecca were keen on getting a piece of their profits
from this new industrial age. Steamships were poised to make

(02:40):
international travel and trade more efficient than possible. By eighteen eighteen,
Brandywine had become the first mill to roll iron boiler
plates for these new vessels. Later, Brandywine was also commissioned
to build the first ironclad steamship. Sadly, Isaac died in
eighteen twenty four and Charles died soon after. In eighteen

(03:03):
twenty five, after both her father and husband passed away,
Rebecca took over the company. Despite Charles's many industrial innovations,
the business was not doing well financially. When Rebecca took
the reins, Brandywine was in major debt. On top of that,
Rebecca was raising young children and was pregnant with another.

(03:25):
Rebecca's mother, Martha, did not feel it was proper for
her daughter to take over the company. Martha believed a
woman's place was in the home. During this period of transition,
their relationship became strained, but that didn't stop Rebecca. She
cultivated fruitful working relationships with some of her late husband's
former business partners. They pitched in on running the day

(03:48):
to day operations, loaned her materials when she needed them,
and extended her more credit. In the end, Rebecca paid
off the mill's debts and kept the company afloat. Rebecca
had a very strong work ethic, and she used her
Quaker faith to inform her business practice. She always put
the needs of her employees first and made sure they

(04:09):
trusted her with the company. When conflict came up, she
took it in stride and it worked. The company's investment
in making iron boiler plates paid off, and Brandywine had
a corner on the growing market. Rebecca also improved the

(04:30):
mills working conditions, rebuilding the dam, installing a water wheel,
and building larger furnaces. Rebecca gained the respect of employees
and customers by persisting through some difficult economic periods. In
eighteen thirty seven, the US experienced a significant recession. While
many other businesses had to lay off their employees, Rebecca

(04:51):
created new jobs to keep her team on and avoid
a full company shut down. By the eighteen forties, Rebecca
had completely turned the company around. The facilities were renovated,
and the business was profitable. In the last years of
her life, she was worth the equivalent of more than
two million dollars today. Rebecca died in eighteen fifty four,

(05:12):
and the company remained in the family until it was
acquired by another steel company in nineteen ninety eight. It
continues to operate today. Thanks for listening to this best
of episode of Wumanica. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special Thanks to Liz Kaplan,
my favorite sister and co creator. As always, will be

(05:35):
taking a break for the weekend. Join us on Monday
for another one of our favorite episodes honoring pink collar workers.
Talk to you then,