Women in the California gold rush , which began in Northern California in , initially included Spanish descendants, or Californios , who already lived in California, Native American women, and rapidly arriving immigrant women from all over the world. At first, the numbers of immigrant women were scarce, but they contributed to their community nonetheless.
Some of the first people in the mining fields were wives and families who were already in California. A few settler women and children and the few men who did not leave their family worked right alongside the men but most men who arrived left their wives and families home. The number of women in California changed very quickly as the rich gold strikes and lack of women created strong pressures in the new gold rush communities to restore sex balance.
As travel arrangements improved and were made easier and more predictable, the number of women coming to California rapidly increased. Passage via Panama became much more predictable after the paddle wheel steam ship lines were up and running by late In Ireland , the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration between and that drove many desperate women to the United States and on to California.
Women of many different continents, statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The fast-increasing population had very few women in it and what women there were found myriads of opportunities. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the goldfields and communities.
Women going to California to rejoin their families usually had their passages paid for by miners or businessmen who had decided to make California their new home. Most of the men had originally planned to get their gold, return to their homes and families, and enjoy their new riches.
