The article is devoted to the analysis of the conditions of labor activity, as well as the peculiarities of family life and everyday life of women employed at the enterprises of the factory industry of St. Petersburg in the late 19th — early 20th centuries. At the present stage of development of Russia, there is still a high proportion of female labor in industry, which determines the relevance of the problem under study in order to take into account the historical experience in regulating the complex sphere of labor relations. The question of the main factors in the formation of the female labor force in St. Petersburg during the post-reform period is raised in the article. The industries in which female labor was most widely represented are identified. Issues related to the peculiarities of the professional activity of female workers (working conditions, level of wages, problems of social protection, etc.) are discussed in detail. The circumstances of private, personal life are analyzed, the influence of material factors in the life of workers on the family life is revealed. It is concluded that the contradictions between the new status of a woman, who is able to independently determine her own fate, and the preservation of her unequal position in society, led to the wide participation of women workers in the political life of St. Petersburg during the First World War and the 1917 revolution
