ABSTRACT
Most nineteenth-century Irish Americans were poor and lived in dirty and dilapidated TENEMENTS in urban areas such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Irish-American households were predominantly headed by women for three major reasons. First, more Irish women than men emigrated to the United States. Second, many Irish men were unskilled and uneducated, so their only employment option was to do the heavy labor that other Americans found undesirable. Because of the high risk of industrial accidents, many Irish women were widowed. And third, there was a higher rate of male desertion among Irish households than among other ethnic groups. Some men, unable to find work, left to seek employment in other cities. Others left because of marital discord.
