The female immigrants in Paris (La Villette) and New York (East Harlem) at the end of Nineteenth Century were not well represented in the work place. The women’s roles were focused on making a family and maintaining traditional social patterns. The professional revolution came from women of the second generation who, for the first time, worked outside home.In New York,the majority worked in the needle trades, following on from the tradition that their mothers once did at home. In contrast, the diversity of the professional activities of the immigrant women in Paris was wider. In both Paris and New York, the integration of immigrants in the work place mirrored the general evolution of native women’s professional activities.