HIST 144 Final Exam Review
WA; Susan K. Cahn, "Lesbians and Homophobia in Women's Sports,"
"Cahn explores the persistence of concerns about feminine sexuality throughout the history of women's sports" "The paradox of women's sport history is that the mannish athlete was not only a figure of homophobic discourse but also a human actor engaged in sexual innovationa nd struggle. Lesbian aatheletes used the social and pyschic space of sport to create a collective culture and affirmative identity. The pride, pleasure, companionship and dignity lesbians found in the athletic world helped them survive in a hostile society.
Sexual violence and the Long Civil RIghts movement - Danielle McGuire
"McGuire argues powerfully that sexual violence against black women has inspired much civil rights campaigning. In addition to political equality, desegregation, and access to jobs, civil rights activists demanded respect and bodily autonomy for black women."
Michelle Nickerson, "Politically Desperate Housewives in Southern California,"
"Michelle Nickerson examines what features of the cold war era motivated middle-class women to become energetic political actors, wheteher in women's clubs of the republican party or in homegrown groups. Attending lectures, publishing newsletters, gathering in reading groups, etc.... A sense of divine mission, and a conviction that they "spoke the truth" to combat communism and other ills. "All politics is local" is a slogan that these historical subjects would heartily endorse. ..And they would have agreed they were the "conservative sex" becuse the men in their lives, with salaried jobs, had far less time for political work."
19th amendment
"The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the account of sex. - many women still could not vote despite the 19th amendment, including native american women (gained right when federal citizenship took effect in 1924 - African american women in southern states with jim crow voting restrictions in effect also did not gain the right until 1965
Charlotte Bunch, "Lesbians in Revolt" (1972)
"To be a lesbian is to love onself, woman, in a culture that denigrates and despises women." "Lesbianism puts women first while the society declares the male supreme" Bunch believes Lesbianism to be "central to destroying our sexist, racist, capitalist, imperialist system." Lesbianism at the time (and still today) is thought primarily in sexual terms, arguably because men "only think of [women] in terms of sex" A lesbian "commits herself to other women for political, emotional, physical and emotional support." Bunch argued that "Lesbians must become feminists and fight against women oppression, just as feminists must become Lesbians if they hope to end male supremacy." "Women will be free only when we concentrate on fighting male supremacy." Bunch argues that "Heterosexuality separates women from each other; it makes women define themselves through men" Basically arguing that Lesbianism is the essential part of breaking down male supremacy and that it should replace male supremacy with equality or female supremacy (?) among men and women.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. - Many women like her wrote abolitionist papers and pamphlets, and is a good representation of many women who were very politically involved in the abolitionist movement
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869. A prominent advocate of women's rights, Stanton organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention with Lucretia Mott She was a mother of seven, and she shocked other feminists by advocating suffrage for women at the first Women's Right's Convention in Seneca, New York 1848. Stanton read a "Declaration of Sentiments" which declared "all men and women are created equal."
13th amendment
- "Neither slavery no involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been dully convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" - By 1865, slavery was abolished in the United States - Many people in congress believed congress needed to do more and extend more rights to free people to help freedman be truly free - part of these rights was the right to vote
Caroll Smith Rosenburg - "The Female world of Love and Ritual"
- 19th +18th century women often formed deep emotional same-sex ties with other women Ex: Sarah Butler Wister + Jeanine Field Musgrove - supported each other through getting married, but had a romantic relationship before and during marriage - their intense love + letters made up for their loneliness - Jeanine and Sarah's relationship was one that was a behavioral +social option for 19th century women intimate Mother-Daughter relationship - one of sympathy and understanding - apprentice system - learning arts of housewifery + motherhood -boarding school education, common among even very pour families -marriage involved removal from her mother +mother's network and building her own
Combahee River Collective, "The Combahee River Collective Statement"
- A group of black feminists in the 1970s that were meeting actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression -The collective felt the need to have a separate organization because they needed to have a group separate from the civil rights and feminist groups that already existed, because both of these groups had different focuses - combahee river collective felt as if they did not have any privilege in their fight, as black men had the privilege of being men, and white women often had privilege both from their race and their social class.
"When Abortion was a crime" by Leslie J. Regan
- Abortion became a common practice in the era of the Great Depression because with families having no source of income, there was no additional resource of income to support an additional child - the common understanding of abortion when it was illegal was that it was done by "back-alley butchers," but this is simply not always the case. - Women more normally had abortions in a setting nearly identical to the doctors' offices where they received medical care - marriage rates and reproductive rates for women fell drastically because people could not afford to get married or have children. While many couples waited to marry until after the depression, they still engaged in sexual relations and became pregnant, resulting in the desire for an abortion - abortion was not limited to any specific class Catholic and Jewish women tended to have children first and abort later pregnancies, protestant women tended to abort early pregnancies and have children later - most affluent white women went to physicians for abortions, while poor women and black women self-induced them - most abortions induced by doctors were successful, where only 24% of abortions that were self- induced were performed without complications - many physicians could provide illegal abortions openly because they paid for protection from the law.
The Great Depression
- After a decade of optimism, on oct 29, 1929, a day known as Black Tuesday, the stock market began to plummet. Stock prices plummeted, and they found no one wanted to invest in the stock market again. - Losing job and savings was a double hit - Laws banned the hiring of married women, married teachers could only be men - Wealthier women learned how to maintain their homes without the help of servants/less servants - "The men, cut adrift from their usual routine, lost much of their sense of time and dawdled helplessly and dully about the streets: while in the homes the women's world remained largely intact and the round of cooking, housecleaning and mending became if anything more absorbing" - 40% of young people 16-24 were neither in school nor working during the depression
Tera W. Hunter, "Reconstruction and the Meanings of Freedom"
- After the civil war, reconstruction even after the passing of the 13th and 14th amendments didn't always look black and white, as many people of color struggled still to find equality and establish themselves in society. This process of reconstruction for colored people also looked different from men than women. - After the civil war, a large group of african americans moved to Atlanta georgia, the large majority of this group being women - Mostly all black women were compelled to find jobs as household workers once they arrived in the city, because of this, black women struggled to assert new terms for their labor - Both the municipal government and the freedman's bureau proved inadequate to serve as support for the poor ex-slaves they were trying to help establish as members of society. Many african americans at the time lived in tents and sheds in very close quarters with multiple families, which did not make for ideal living conditions. - Range of opportunities for black women was much narrower than for black men - Black women were excluded from small manufacturing plants, such as those that made candy, clothing, textiles, paper boxes, book binding, and straw goods. - Large numbers of black women worked in domestic labor in private homes as cooks, maids, and child nurses. A few black women found related jobs in local hotels - Large numbers also worked in their own homes as laundresses that had them in charge of accommodating family and community obligations - (247-248) Black women often got extra responsibilities in the roles they had that they didn't necessarily consent to - KKK got in the way of women becoming economically self sufficient, especially because they harassed registered voters and independent landholders, ransacked churches and schools, and intimidated common laborers who refused to bow obsequiously to planters, and tormented any white republicans sympathetic to african americans -- it was the KKK's determination to halt the reconstruction of the free labor system
Linda Gordon, Women in the KKK in the 1920s
- As a leader in the KKK, Barr was "motivated by thei belief that women were less corrupt and harder on moral offenses than men....her speeches honored women suffrage and urged women to make active use of their new political citizenship." (371) - The four pillars that these women and gathered and led upon in the KKK were whtie supremacy, anti-Catholicism, anti-sentimism, and temperance. (372) Klanswomen supported women's employment and called women's economic independence (375) for white women, and therefore called themselves feminists as a result. - Klanswomen supported women's employment and called women's economic independence (375) for white women, and therefore called themselves feminists as a result. - Supported eugenists and reproduction control "on an economic basis" (376)
Eleanor Roosevelt + Blanche Wiesen Cook's : "Storms on Every Front: Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights"
- Became Active in the NYC settlement house movement - Married FDR and had six children, but she maintained a consistent political life - Tried to see the New Deal in practice as first lady and understand how effective it was becoming, and see what improved, and relayed the information to FDR -first first-lady to hold her own press conference, travel alone with secret service, and hold her own radio broadcast - Also wrote a weekly newspaper column, ran 1926-1962, gave advice to everyday Americans Blanche Wiesen Cook's : "Storms on Every Front: Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights" - Eleanor Roosevelt used her platform to advocate for the rights of the vulnerable, including jews being persecuted by the Nazis, and African Americans being segregated against.
Lavender scare
- Government officials conducting interrogations took special aim at people who seemed sexually non-conforming - Government officials increasingly treated lesbians and gay men as pedophiles after the war - government officials targeted gay men and lesbians, outing them to their employers, families, and communities - called gay and lesbian men a " national security threat"
Stephanie Jones-Rogers, "Mistresses in the Making"
- Lizzie Anna Burwell, became "vexed" with Fanny, her enslaved caretaker --> lizzie learned how to be a slave owner from how her parents treated them - "she recognized that she posessed the power to command others to do so, and her father did little to discourage her from believing that she did." - Females grew up practicing techniques of slaving discipline and management, deciding "what kind of slaveowners they wanted to become" - Young girls were given slaves as part of their inheritance - "Slaveowners' objective in requiring this kind of deference was simple. They wanted enslaved people to recognize the power their children possessed over them, even at the time of birth." - " As little girls, privileged southerners imagined how enslaved people would fit into their lives, not as playmates or companions, but as property."
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
- Near closing time on March 25th 1911, fire breaks out at grament factor - in 18 minutes, a third of the workers died -fire brought national attention to the quality of industrial work for women -in wake of this tragedy, working men and women increasindly came together and used the fire as example of why new living conditions were needed -Labor actvisits organized an oficial days of morning -Many labor activists argued factory workers should have faced chargers - owners were fined $20 for locking the door on the building but this was the only charge they faced Fire produced 3 changes for women - Brought new attention of unfair situations for women's work brought further attention of government, new pressure on government workers - brought more attention to union for women, increased union membership - convinced members of garment workers' union to create new movement to unite workers
Rosie the Riveter's life
- Rosie is representative of a time where two million women were working in war industries at the height of wartime industrial production - Between 1940 and 1945, women's percentage of the paid labor force increased from 27% to almost 37% - the war brought millions of middle-class women into the paid labor force for the first time - for millions of working-class women and women of color, who were more likely to be wage earners already, the war brought new opportunities for secure, high-paid work.
Sojourner Truth's visiting card, 1864
- Sojourner truth was known for speaking out towards women having the right to speak opinions in the church and public - she spoke about adam and eve: "well if woman upset the world, do give a chance to set it right side up again" - indentured servant who gained her freedom, joined the union during the civil war
T. Hall + "An indentured servant identifies as both Man and Woeman" by Mary Beth Norton
- T hall comes before the court of the colony in virginia, because they dress like both a man and women - Thomasine's motivation was likely caused by her brother's experience of going to the army, and she was trying to join herself. - When she returned to plymoth, she resumed her female gender - Captain Basse decided T was a women, but many women thought T to be a man - The case was then transferred to the general court. The court accepted T's own self- definition, declaring that he was both a man and woman. What this tale reveals about gender definitions + the roles of society - relationship of sexual characteristics and gender identity - the importance of clothing - the absence of a sense of personal privacy throughout the proceedings (court forcibly checked T's gender - The involvement of the community, especially the women, in determining identity
"Eliza R Hemmingway and Sarah Bagley Testify on Working Conditions in Early Factories, 1845"
- Textile factories in the first wave of industrialization may have not existed if it wasn't for cheap female labor - one of the earliest milltowns was in lowell, Massachusetts, where owners were recruiting young unmarried women to work in six textile mills in 1823. - Compared to the work they did at home, at first factory work seemed to pay well and offer new opportunities for women - Work in the mills was genderly segregated: men were supervisors and skilled mechanics, while women attended the spinning and weaving machinery. -Daily earnings of almost all female workers depended on piece rates--the number of pieces or output of the particular machine they had tended. -In 1845, led by Sarah Bagley, the Female labor reform Association organized a petition drive throughout the region, forcing the Massachusetts legislature to hold hearings on industrial working conditions throughout the united states. - On February 13, 1845, Eliza hemingway and Sarah Bagley had the chance to testify: Eliza R Hemmingway: - Worked at Lowell factories 2 yrs 9 mos, $23 average monthly salary, complained that the hours of labor were too many, and the time for meals was too limited. - Women and children are often getting sick from working in the factory conditions, factory wasn't well lit Sarah Bagley - Worked in the mills eight and a half years, works as a weaver - Says the health of operatives is not as good as the health of housewives or those women who work in other mills. - Shortness of time allotted for meals was a problem - 10 hours of work is the ideal time that was put forth in the petition by sarah, argued this would allow more time for sewing at home, and the intellectual, moral, and religious habits of the women would change as a result as well. M - Average work day throughout the year was 11.5 hours, longest was 13.5
"Maria Perkins writes to husband on the Eve of being sold, 1854"
- This letter Maria Perkins writes reads with honest anxiety, very much conversation - Brevity and lack of structure reflects both the lack of education Maria liked had as well as how hard it was for Maria to write this both physically and mentally.
Myra Bradwell
- Trained to be a lawyer in the same way her husband did and founded and edited a publication "The Chicago Legal News," and passed the bar exam in 1869 - Illinois supreme court refused to issue her a license because as a married woman, she could not sign contracts - Myra appealed her case all the way up to the supreme court, her state's denial of her right to her career violated her 14th amendment right - Do my rights under the constitution include the right to enter a career you have proven you're qualified for? Supreme Court says no "privileges and immunities" clause of the constitution did not guarantee profession - Court included a branch of language of what men and women should live like - "Man is, or should be, women's protector and defender."
"I know what an Indian woman can do" by Sarah Winnemucca
- Winnemucca Actively lobbied military officers, territorial legislators, and the interior department in Washington - problem 1: many paiute girls were being raped by white settlers and captured them because they considered Native American women racially + culturally inferior and economically marginal Winemucca described white american culture to be "infused with masculinity and violence - marriages in paiute society were seen more of a mix between partnership and affection - many paiute women married white men in effort to broaden ties - paiute women had to take special precautions in order to avoid rape, such as being provided special securities for the women in their family and dressing in way that was considered more proper to white americans - paiute war of 1860 began because of the abuse and sexual violence white men were inflicting on paiute women
Republican Motherhood
- Women's primary role in the new nation was to mother patriotic sons and daughters who would eventually do the same - Good parenting as a civil duty; women served the nation as moms - A good deal for women? - Girls needed to be educated in the ideals of patriotism, good citizenship, not because they would become these things, but so they could raise sons to become these things - Mothers "custodians of civil morality" - Framed childbearing as a civic duty - This "republican motherhood" perpetuates system of inequality, and not every woman could be a mother, puts pressure on women -Yes: a step up? More influence, more education, and honorable role Benefits - strenghtened women's education - emphasized women's importance to the nation -framed the work of mothering as significant Drawbacks - reinforced women's secondary - implied that women had do direct role in politics - cemented the framers' assumption that women's proper realm was the domestic sphere
Women's labors - The World of Women's Paid Work
- Women's work took many forms - both paid and unpaid. All this work was valuable, but only some was waged. - unpaid labor women did was often strenuous and time consuming - The gendered division of labor determined what work was available and appropriate - Whether and where a women worked for wages depended upon her class and ethnic status-- and immigrant women and women of color were fare more likely to work for wages - women who could afford not to work for wages didn't - immigrants and freed women depended on the state of the local and national economy. -
Pauli Murray + "The Making of Jane Crow"
- as a female poc law student, Murray was constant ignored by her teachers - protested against the segregation within the little palace cafeteria at Howard university - Denied from both Harvard Law School and UNC Law School primarily because of her gender and/or race -Her application to Harvard Law was split 7-7 - Concept of Jane Crow is highlighted in Pauli Murray's experience, as she had double discrimination from getting into law school both because she was a person of color and a woman
Civil Rights Movement
- fundamental racial and gender tesnion - civil rights movement saw fusion of institutional and grassroots strategies -legal + institution focused - 1954 US supreme court decision ruled racially segregated schools were no longer allowed-proved to activists that strategy of litigation made effective strides to equality - The civil rights movement rose a generation of activists that began to fight for the things they're passionate for - Women provided logistical support - creating grassroots movements, keeping the movement going -Many women were also leaders as well during this movement -Daisy Bates - Opened a NAACP youth division and supported the little rock nine
"Of husband and wife" Sir William Blackstone
- marriage is seen as a civil contract laws of the marriage: 1. consent of both parties 2. must be able to contract themselves in marriage Legal "disabilities" that prevent a marriage from happening: - prior marriage and polygamy - age - boys must be 14, girls 12 things that actualize a marriage - consent of parents or guardians must be given - want of reason = want/reason to be married is legitimate -willing to contract in law effort to maje the marriage good + civil
Judith A Carney "toiling in the rice fields"
- rice made in carolina colony by enslaved africans also orginated in the colony, not Asia - women had strong knowledge of soil fertility, revealing soil impoverishment/recovery - African women perfected rice cooking and paraboiling (represents the diffuse of a female knowledge system from africa) - "The pounding of rice resonated through African communities as the heartbreat of daily life, the echo of cultural identity." - African American womens' knoweldge of rice farming was the basis for the carolina economy.
Gender spheres/ separate spheres
- the growth of the middle class gave rise to a new ideology of home and work, and to men's and women's roles in each public sphere.-- men's domain - dirty, dangerous, competitive, morally compromised private sphere --women's domain-- a clean, pastoral, well-ordered haven from the public sphere
15th amendment
- the right to vote could not be denied by race - two groups of womens rights advocates did not write whether or not they liked the fact that this amendment was passed despite the fact that it did not include women
Sarah Winemucca
- tried to keep her community from white settler invasion - shows how in particular white Anglo encroachment caused specific problems for native women - hopkins gathered fish and helped protect her community, but was warned from a young afe to keep away from "blue-eyed men" - in 1859 the federal government set aside land for a reservation, and the Paiute set down in a very dry area and had little to no agricultural skills - became a lecturer in san Fransisco and described the issues that occurred on plantations for tribes - created a school for Paiute children, but shortly after Native American children were mandated to attend white-run schools
The President's commission on the Status of Women
- women who worked for wages were still limited in the number of roles they could be in despite increasing job positions - Issues facing working women were extremely important to Eleanor Roosevelt - In 1960 JFK asked Roosevelt for her endorsement, given the condition that he would create a commission on study and status of working women - Commission's final report issued in 1963 demonstrated the problems of inequality that held women back from joining the workforce Commission was important and symbolic but also for practical reasons Congress was considering over 400 pieces of legislation for women's rights while JFK was in office.
Christine Jorgensen
-Born and raised male -Traveled to Denmark for sex reassignment surgery (1952) -Understandings of transsexuality 1. Europe: medical / biological condition 2. US: psychiatric condition -(May 30, 1926 - May 3, 1989) was an American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. -First famous transsexual in the US -Her story gives hope to thousands -Flooded with thousands of letters 1. "Your story is my story; please help." -Revelation, role model, defender of trans people -"Suddenly, like a revelation, I knew WHO and WHAT I was—and something could be done about it!" -became a media sensation, had a hero's welcome coming home in the newspaper, but Christine had to spend the rest of her life explaining her in-between status
Aimee Stephens + "A Landmark Supreme Court Ruling
-Transgender woman who in 2013 kindly informed her boss and fellow coworkers that she had made the decision to change to a woman - she was fired by her boss after she sent her kind note, solely for this decision she had made - Eventually became protected until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but Stephens' story shows americans reluctance to change and how until recently the rights of transgender women were not protected underneath the law
Phyllis Schlafly
1970s; a new right activist that protested the women's rights acts and movements as defying tradition and natural gender division of labor; demonstrated conservative backlash against the 60s
Shirley Chisholm
1st African American woman elected to Congress (NY) and later made a bid for the Democratic nomination in the 1972 presidential campaign
Redstockings Manifesto
69 the Redstockings were a radical feminist group who combined direct-action protests with "conscious-raising" efforts designed to forge a united female front/ more militant than NOW -Founded by women who came over from the New York -Radical Women (Ellen Willis and Shulamith Firestone). -They wanted to overcome women's oppression by raising awareness that is existed. - put them in the national spotlight and forced politicians and everyday people to realize that there was a gap in gender
Title IX
A United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
The Temperance Movement
A lead organization of this movement is the Women's Christian ( president was Frances Willard) Temperance Union - Argued drunkness caused a huge problem for family life (neglect, child abuse, spending of paychecks on alcohol alone, prostitution) - wanted to end alcohol consumption --lobbied to address many social problems related to alcohol abuse--women's access to education and jobs, women's custody rights, and women's suffrage
Lesbian Feminism
A social movement within 1970s feminism that contributed a critique of heterosexuality as an institution and, in some cases, advocated lesbianism or separatism as a political option. A political movement that combines an interest in the liberation of women with an interest in the liberation of lesbians.
Coverture
A system of law that transferred a woman's civil identity to her husband at marriage - when they got married, they were seen as one person in the law: him - wives could not own property in their names - if a woman was raped, a man (such as her husband )could bring him to court and get him to be punished for his actions because he "damaged the husband's property"
"Battle of the Sexes" + Billie Jean King
A tennis match in 1973 between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. King's much-heralded victory over Riggs represented a key triumph over sexism and provided a significant historical lesson on exceeding sexist expectations and assumptions. - Her victory challenged the questions "were men really naturally superior to women? or "Is it possible for women to compete in a game against men and women?"
Abigail Adams + "Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams"
Abigail and John adams bore 8 children and brought up their daughters as sons and sought that they had equal education Reading Notes: - abigail adams feels that the english's motives are not reflective of christian values -> she is talking about the treatment primarily of the treatment of women in comparison to men under the law -"I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than to your ancestors" - she was confident and stood up for herself and for other women in her community, very blunt and honest with her husband - strived to help and support John at the same time, but she knew John valued her opinion strongly and again wanted to be honest with him - Connects to the colonial era, signaling that even a woman with arguable power like abigail adams did not feel as if she was seen as equals with her husband, therefore while she may have had some influence, did not have real power in early america.
Harriet Jacobs
Also known as Linda Brent. Her Incident's in the Life of Slave Girl highlight the sexual exploitation inherent in slavery. She hid for years in an attic. Abolitionists published her work but were uncomfortable with the fact that she had willingly taken a white lover who was not her owner as a form of resistance to sexual exploitation. - Born into enslavement -Dr. Norcomb tried to be suggestive to her, Harriet resisted, Dr. Norcomb refused her to get married - Got married to a white lawyer in town, had enslaved children owned by Dr. Norcomb -Harriet escaped, but didn't want to leave her children behind, so she hid in Edenton for 7 years in her Grandmother's shack, developing permanent disability, but she could hear her children playing in the yard. - Escaped by boat to Philedelphia, and then New York, and purchase her children from Dr. Norcomb - her book is about her life's story with compelling, pressing details
harriet tubman
American abolitionist. Born a slave on a Maryland plantation, she escaped to the North in 1849 and became the most renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom. (1820-1913)
The Grimké Sisters
Angelina and Sarah Grimke wrote and lectured vigorously on reform causes such as prison reform, the temperance movement, and the abolitionist movement. - 2 sisters from South Carolina, first women abolitionists to elegize the rights of women and the abolitionist movement - educated their brothers, encouraged to participate in discussion at dinner tables -met many women in the north growing up - "An appeal to Christian Women of the south" lecture made sisters very famous - Speeches by abolitionist women were scandalous, because women were not supposed to speak in public, especially about something so political
Reproduction, including Birth Control and Abortion
As far as historians can look, they have found evidence of women's efforts to control their fertility - Invented by everyday people who sought to interrupt reproduction - Widely practiced - Before the development of "the pill" in the late 1950s, improvements to birth control methods were simply incremental changes to ancient technologies - Many of these methods would look familiar to us today. -Abortion and the use and dissemination of birth control were made illegal in the U.S.> in the 1870s as a matter of public health - In 1916, Progressive reformer Magaret Sanger was arrested for opening the first birth control clinic in the united states Abortion - ok with abortion all the way up until quickening--movement of child independent of you - Abortifacients oftentimes were compiled from recipes handed down teas with common herbs, - Indirectly effective, upset the entire body that the body would be aborted as a result - Crochet hooks, hangers, or other tools could also be used to literally remove the fetus (designed to shock the system and remove the fetus as a result
Suffrage movement
Began in the late 19th century when the undersigned women of the United States submitted a statement to the senate and house of representatives asking " an amendment to the constitution that shall prohibit the several states from disenfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex. - This movement came out of the abolitionist movement - many women who had been out of the abolitionist struggle had their hopes dashed, as the 14th and 15th only applied to men - main argument was that numerous problems women faced could be solved by suffrage Suffrage bound up with other movements - women of all backgrounds were advocating for suffrage, not only through explicitly suffragist organizations, but also because women of all backgrounds were fighting for suffragism while fighting for different causes in different organizations
The Anglo Indian Frontier by Kathleen Brown
Comparison of english culture to indian culture - Indian women had more power in their society than english men - women ran the household in english culture, whereas there was a "divine division of labor" among genders in indian culture - in both cultures women perfomed agricultural labor and were in charge of household responsibilities, however indian culture more progress, women gained power over tribes by 17th century - in indian culture women had great influence over moving new grounds -Many english writers through indian woman were able to give birth easily because they were not subject to the curse of adam and eve as judeo christians were - english writers viewed indian women clothing as immodest compared to the clothing of english women - english men often felt/wrote indian women to be sexually manipulative
Declaration of Sentiment/Seneca Falls convention
Declaration of Sentiments , 1848 - same format as declaration, just including women, talking more bout the things men have done to control women, such as restricting individual rights, being "civilly dead" through marriage, taking all property + waves, having controlling laws of divorce, and prohibiting women from speaking in the church - women also propose solutions in the declaration, such as the ability to have property and voting rights - some newspapers published declaration of sentiments as a joke, which increased negative connotation amount the convention Seneca Falls convention - women's rights convention that organized protests, wrote petitions, passed motions urging government action, and otherwise strategized about the future of their movement. -At the convention they discussed voting, political inclusion, ability to work, marriage rights, and the ability to speak in church. - controversial issues at the convention were women's voting rights, and what the role of men who supported rights was (of those such as Frederick Douglas who attended the convention.)
14th amendment
Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws - More general, towards federal authority over protecting people's rights -Privileges and immunities clause -Section 2 of the 14th amendment - seems to define the right to vote strictly to males over 21 years old
Daughters of Bilitis
First lesbian civil and political rights organization in the united states, wanted to educate the public and win equality
Radical Feminism
Form of feminist theory that believes that gender inequality is the result of male domination in all aspects of social and economic life.
national organization for women
Founded in 1966, called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. Inspired by Betty Frieden, a reform organization that battled for equal rights with men by lobbying and testing laws in court. NOW wanted equal employment opportunities, equal pay, ERA, divorce law changes, and legalized abortion.
Japanese-American Women Intermnet
In February 1941 President Roosevelt issued a document forcing all people of Japanese descent from Arizona, Oregon and Washington to be removed. Put them in internment campus out of fear that another attack by the Japanese was going to occur.
Phyllis Schafly +"Difference, Not Equality"
In her writing, Schafly argues that the ERA is saying that men and women are the same biologically, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and therefore, should be treated the same. Schafly points out that this argument cannot be true, and is not a good point to argue that women should be treated equally to men.
Ida B. Wells Barnett
Journalist and anti lynching activist who supported struggling black men and protected them from lynching - Born enslaved, after emancipation family stayed nearby in Holly Springs Mississippi, and she was raised in a strict household that deeply valued education - Went to college in the 1880s and became a teacher for African American Children - White teachers were paid $80 a month, Black women were paid $30 for the same job - Barnet wrote newspaper articles about racism and was a anti-lynching activist lynching= killings of black men executed by angry white people - in 1892 three of Barnett's black male neighbors were lynched - Left and went to the north and became a journalist to be an activist for anti-lynching - wrote a paper accusing southern whites of lynching and showing the dangers of it Blames institutions for permitting this
Brandeis Brief
Louis D. Brandeis argues that working conditions in textilemills had "evil effects" on childbirth (121) and arguing the "overwork of future mothers" would be detrimental to society, harming future generations(Brandeis, 128). As an argument is being presented in court by Brandeis for the work hours of women to be shortened, his concern is not primarily equal treatment of men and women in the workplace, but rather the effects working strenuous hours will affect a woman's ability to produce and raise children, further emphasizing women's primary role as child bearers and raisers in society. Additionally, in his argument for women to have a stricter limit on working hours, his central argument was that it was dangerous for women to work long hours, his reasoning including that woman were "fundamentally weaker" (112) physically and would struggle to handle the "more and more complex" advancements in production and therefore should be limited in their positions and the hours they work (Brandeis, 116). The fact that Louis Brandeis uses the ideal that women are physically weaker than men and unable to perform the same tasks as men reflects the view this society continued to hold that women have distinct roles from men in society, and in their character, they are inherently weaker and incapable of preforming the same tasks as men.
The Flapper and the Chaperone: Mexican American Teenagers in the Southwest - Vicki Ruiz
Mexican Americans had to change their lifestyle and home in order to live up to the standards that Americans found acceptable. These women were going through changes with constant innovations such as bleaching creams and electric irons. "Advertisements aimed at women promised status and affection if the proper bleaching cream, hair coloring, and cosmetics were purchased."
"Prescriptions for Penelope"
Popular literature during WWII that talked about how wives should be treating their husbands while they served as soldiers. Women were challenged to fix problems coming about after WWII in their designated female roles, but above all else, giving up their autonomy and putting their veteran husbands first was important.
DeGraffenreid v. General Motors
Question: Can workplace discrimination law address workers' claims where they involve more than one protected category The 8th circuit court of appeals answer: NO. - the framers of VII had not intended to permit workers to combine categories of discrimination (race and gender) - permitting workers to do so would create a new "super-remedy" that would give workers new advantages in relation to other workers - It would also open a Pandora's box of complex claims that the government was not prepared to address
Betty Friedan + The Feminine Mystique
Revived the feminist movement by saying that women are different but shouldn't be treated as inferior; they should have the same rights/protections. - book came out in 1963 and was an immediate best seller- tapped into feelings that many women had but felt like were personal and not collective, that they felt needed to deal with on their own -surprised by how all the women she interviewed were unhappy, began publishing articles about the "problem has no name," and the problems that women were commonly facing in society
Equal Rights Amendment
Section 1: Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or by any account of sex. Section 2: That Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article Section 3: This article shall take effect 2 years after the date of ratification
Redstockings
This radical feminist organization viewed men as oppressors and formed separate female collectives to affirm their identities as women.
Lochner v. New York
Tested the constitutionality of the Bakeshop Act, an 1985 New York State law that: 1. Mandated certain sanitary conditions in bakeries, and 2. Banned individuals from working in bakeries for more than 10 hours per day to 60 hours per week. Question before the U.S. Supreme Court: Can the state of New York regulate the hours worked by bakers (a male-typed profession)? - 1899, Joesph Lochner was convicted of violating the bakeshop act by letting a worker work for over 60 hours in a week, was fined but took it to court. "There is no reasonable group, on the score of health, for interfering with the liberty of the person or the right of free contract, by determining the hours of labor. In the occupation of a baker." The bakeshop act is "an unreasonable, unnecessary, and arbitrary inference with the right and liberty of the individual to contact in relation to labor."
Muller v. Oregon ( 1908) (PERFECT to tie to brandeis brief)
Tested the constitutionality of the Oregon Labor Code, which: 1. Banned workers from working in laundries for more than 10 hours per day Question before the U.S. Supreme Court: Can the state of Oregon regulate the hours worked by laundry workers (a female-typed profession) - Laundry owner named Kurt Muller continued to allow his workers to work more than 10 hours per day. Muller was fined, but he took the same stand and argued that the Oregon labor codes were not constitional Result: - In muller lawyer defended papers of sociological evidence that suggested women's frailties (brandeis brief) - Regulated women's working conditions based on sex discrimination, not necessarily their health and safety - Tried to shield women from harsh working conditions - The number of restrooms, water fountains and other resources in a workplace had to coincide with the number of women working there (certain quotas), women could only be standing for a certain amount of time - Ruled based on the idea that women were being protected because they were being treated differently at work, rather than women should have equal rights in the workplace as men.
Roe v. Wade
The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester. 7-2 opinion ruling on January 22, 1973
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.
The National Organization for Women Statement of Purpose, (1996)
The NOW Statement of Purpose defines freedom for women as liberation from the constraints of homemaking and childrearing in order to enter the professional workforce in equal numbers with equal pay.
Sojourner Truth
United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)
The Americanization of Native American Children (Zitkala-Sa)
Zitkala-Sa was given the opportunity as a little girl to go away from her tribe and go to travel with the colonizers and attend their schools. In this process, she does not realize that she and the other little indian girls who were brought to this school would have their culture stripped from them. "We were placed in a line of girls who were marching into the dining room. These were indian girls, in stiff shoes and closely clinging dresses. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair.As I walked noiselessly in my soft moccasins, I felt like sinking to the floor, for my blanket had been stripped from my shoulders. I looked hard at the indian girls, who seemed not to care that they were even more immodestly dressed than I, in their tightly fitting clothes." Judewin...had overheard the paleface woman talk about cutting our long, heavy heair. Out mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards! We discussed our fate for some moments and when Judewin said 'we have to submit, because they are strong,' I rebelled. 'No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!' I answered.
Save Our Children
a political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation. The coalition was publicly headed by celebrity singer Anita Bryant, who claimed the ordinance discriminated against her right to teach her children biblical morality.
consciousness raising
a radical feminist social movement technique designed to help women make connections between the personal and the political in their lives. The goal of this movement was to make women more socially aware of the impact they have as individuals.
Anita Bryant
entertainer famous for her Florida orange juice commercials; initiated a campaign against homosexual rights beginning with her opposition to a local ordinance in Dade County, FL banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 1977. Her "Save Our Children" campaign depicted homosexuals as perverted pedophiles and formed part of a renewed Christian Right movement. After success in Florida, she took her campaign nationwide and achieved a number of similar victories in other cities. Her campaigned inspired a number of gay rights organizations to galvanize in opposition. She is iconic of the reinvigorated religious right of the 1970s and 80s and their efforts to combat the new visible gay activism. (could be paired with anti-feminism)
Jeanne Boydston + "the pastoralization of housework"
family survival resources: 1) skills of the wife in housewifery 2) the skills + property of the husband in agriculture -"mixed" economies - combined of paid + unpaid labor needed to purchase goods + services -wife's housework - valued at $150/yr -scavenging - a good observation of -scraps that could be sold to make the family an extra $50/year women's labor provided a "safety net" enabling the middle class to maintain a degree of material stability and healthiness in a volatile economic environment On the pastoralization of housework: - glorification of wife + motherhood most widely shared belief in the 19th century - women were involved only in household, where men were involved in the workplace and household (women activites in literature described less as purposeful, more as ordered by the welfare of their families - women's activities are often "romanticized" activities like cooking, baking, washing clothes, mending, darning, serving meals, or building fires, but heavy laborious tasks like lugging hot water, heating/ lifting cast-iron pans, dusting/sweeping rooms, and cleaning the stove were left out - women's responsibility by their husbands was seen to "guide the footsteps of infancy in the paths of rectitude and virtue, to smooth down wrinkles of our nature
Jane Collective
group of women who performed surgical abortions, taught self-exam, didn't turn away if you couldn't pay Underground organization that provided illegal abortions in Chicago, IL. Wanted to make the process more comfortable for women; did not have medical licenses. -Radical feminist group
The problem that has no name
life as a 1950s suburban stay-at-home mother was a stifling routine, the same every day, for as long as the imagination could conjure; women's roles in society were tightly controlled, and thus they were at a higher risk for fatalistic suicide - book published in 1963 by Betty Friedan and was an immediate best seller--tapped into feelings that many women had but felt like were personal and not collective, that they felt needed to deal with on their own - Surprised by how all the women she interviewed were unhappy, began publishing articles about "the problem that has no name," and the problems that women were commonly facing in society
anti-feminism
opposes changes in women's roles, status, rights, or opportunities - Phyllis Schafly was the major leader of this movement, seen as the head (Phyllis Schafly's "difference, not equality") could easily be paired with this idea)
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
prohibits employment agencies, employers, and unions from discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
Cary Chapman Catt + Preseident's annual address to National Women Suffrage Union
support the war and the president will support suffrage and the 19th amendment Presented a plan at a NAWSA convention she named a "winning plan," for the 19th amendment, in which she avoided states such as southern states that she believed impossible to reach, and instead focused her efforts on state campaigns, lobbying for an amendment at the federal level, and supporting future efforts for ratification of the 19th amendment "President's Annual Address to National American Woman Suffrage Association"(ignorant men are allowed to vote yet intelligent women aren't. there should be limits placed on voting but not based on gender)
Cult of Domesticity
the ideal woman was seen as a tender, self-sacrificing caregiver who provided a nest for her children and a peaceful refuge for her husband, social customs that restricted women to caring for the house idealized view of women & home; women, self-less caregiver for children, refuge for husbands advice books for women during the time emphasized how hard domestic work could be and suggested to be a full time occupation Left out of the cult of domesticity - Most women of color, working class women, and pioneer and farm women
intersectionality
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
Gerda Lerner
this historian noted that women were usually the first enslaved by war and conquest - immigrated to the US in ww2 to escape nazi persecution -began to pursue a graduate degree at Columbia university in her 40s - multiple academic advisors deemed women's history as an "unimportant topic" that no one would hire her to teach - wrote her dissertation about a group of abolitionist sisters - wrote an essay called "placing women in history--different ideas of where to look for women's history" her ideas: 1. notable women/ women worthies pro: more do-able, good place to start because of resources that were better preserved cons: a perspective that was deemed acceptable and not controversial 2. Contribution history - what did women contribute to events we already know about pro: easier to digest for people who aren't interested in women's history 3. Oppression history pro: oppression is an important part of women's history, but it's not the whole story 4. statistics: pros: looking at the average person during that time period cons: statistics don't tell a narrative 5. prescriptive literature - religious sermons, advice books, things that told women how to live and act pros: gives a more narrative to statistics because men often wrote the prescriptive literature cons: can't tell the narrative alone
Anti-Suffragists
those who believed that the woman's place was in the home raising the children, and voted against the women's suffrage movement - mostly rich upper class women
