This essay on women's history and Chicago is reprinted, with permission, from Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast (2001). The introduction by Dr. Schultz pulls together essential themes and topics that emerged from the 423 biographies of Chicago women that appear in this book – History Fair students will find inspiration for research projects and a wealth of information about both known and unknown women who made a difference to our city, and often the nation.

Chicago gained fame as the city of "broad shoulders" in honor of the working people whose labor built it into a world-class industrial city. Today, although many of the steel mills, factories, stockyards and packing houses that employed them have since shut down, the city's motto is still "the city that works." The kinds of jobs most wage-earning men and women do have changed, but labor is still central to who we are and what keeps the city going. It is the chance to earn a better living that draws people from across the world to Chicago, from Europe in earlier years to Latin America, Africa, and Asia today.