What systemic friction did Margaret E. Knight face in the 19th-century marketplace?

The marketplace and legal system were designed by and for men.

Knight navigated an environment where invention was overwhelmingly considered a male domain, resulting in structural disadvantages. The foundational friction she encountered was the societal expectation that women belonged in the domestic sphere, which translated directly into institutional obstacles. This meant securing capital, gaining trust from skilled machinists, and achieving credibility with investors were exponentially harder because the established commercial and legal structures were inherently biased toward male industrialists. Every success required her to simultaneously prove the merit of her technical work and her own legitimacy as an inventor against these societal norms.