Sinclair Lewis 
The Job (Annotated) 

• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: Sinclair Lewis, a controversial Nobel Laureate in Literature

First published in 1917, ‘The Job’ is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis that is considered one of the first key statements of working women’s rights.

There is no doubt that Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and a writer lauded both for his craft and his principles, wrote “The Job” as a statement of female empowerment, and self-determination over societal expectation.

“The Job” was published before Sinclair Lewis achieved any significant fame and provides insights on working women as well as the unique nature (for the time) of having a woman as the lead character.



“The Job” focuses on the main character, Una Golden, and her desire to establish herself in a legitimate occupation while balancing the eventual need for marriage. The story takes place in the early 1900-1920s and takes Una from a small Pennsylvania town to New York. Forced to work due to family illness, Una shows a talent for the traditional male bastion of commercial real estate and, while valued by her company, she struggles to achieve the same status of her male coworkers.

On a parallel track, her quest for traditional romance and love is important but her unique role as a working woman, doing a man’s job, makes it tough to find an appropriate suitor…