History: How significantly did the position of women change, 1917-80?
Impact of the first world war
Before the first world war, women were struggling to get the rights to vote. The war gave them a chance to work, although their wages were often less then men for the same job. Once the war was over, most women were fired to make way for men returning from war. One gain from the war was congress passes the 19th amendment to constitution, giving women the vote under the same state rules as men. However women could only vote as long as they voted in large numbers. In 1920, the League of Women Voters was set up to encourage women to vote. However, ,any poorer women did not vote, or voted the way their husbands told them to. Few black women voted, especially in the south. It was mainly educated white women who felt the vote was a significant change.
the impact of the women's liberation movement, 1961-80
In 1961, president Kennedy influence by Eleanor Roosevelt, set up a commission of enquiry on the status of women. In 1963, it published results praising equal pay act which passed congress that year and the wider job opportunities for women. This was a positive and significant change for women. However the commission also found that that equal pay act was badly needed and needed enforcing. Women accounted for one in three workers but were discriminated against when it comes to training, work and promotion. The problem was that minimum wage regulations did not apply to low paid work that many women did e.g. domestic work. There wasn't enough day care to help married women to work effectively. The report shows that non whites were in a worse position than whites because of racial discrimination.
Betty Friedan
In 1963, Betty Friedan, a psychologist and journalist, published a book called the feminine mystique about the constraints of suburban life and the proline of white educated married women. Her book got many women thinking about women rights, and their own lives in a new way. It was widely read due it its controversy and spurred some women especially educated, middle class and white to organise themselves and work more actively for women's rights. The first and biggest national movement was the National Organisation of Women set up on 30th June 1966. Friedan was one of its founder members. They aimed to work within the political system to get equality and better enforcement of the civil rights act and equal pay act. Congress had failed to do this and wanted to put pressure on congress to change their mind.
what changes did suburban living make, 1941-60?
In the 1950s, suburbs grew rapidly: in 1960 19 million more people lived in suburbs than in 1950. The pattern of suburban life was similar across class and race. Usually, the wage earning husband went out to work while his wife stayed at home, looking after the house and children. If both parents worked, childcare was needed which made suburban living more expensive Suburbs created their own social networks and social life. If women worked, they were often excluded from the friendship of those who did not. However, housewives could be excluded also if they did not conform to those of development: some developments did not allow fences and even had rules about cutting the grass and babies nap times. The suburbs created a subset of women with too much time on their hands, especially if they had once worked. But this life was portrayed on billboards, in magazines and on television as a life style to aspire to, the American dream of any American women of any race E.g. Advert showing a husband returning home to a candle lit dinner with the slogan "a tempting table for his highness" It impacted women who didn't live in the surburbs, all the advertising made the suburbs something to aspire to. The long term effect of suburbs was that people left in the inner cities became locked into a downward spiral. Non white ghettos grew and grew caused by and fostering racism. The education and job opportunities available to girls and women who lived there meant that they were going to have to be exceptional to change their situation.
The Roaring Twenties: advancement
It was single, well-off, mostly white women that were the most open to change. Changing industries had created many more office jobs, such as woking in a typing pool, which became accepted as women's work. A women's Bureau of Labour was set up in 1920s, to improve womens working conditions and campaigns for the wider employment of women. Between 1910 and 1940, the number of women working went from 8.3% to 9.8%. Women in the same jobs as men were usually paid less, and they often found themselves in the 'last hired, first fired' situation that black Americans would recognise
Limits to advancemet
Johnsons order only covered federal employees or businesses working for federal government. On march 1972, the equal rights act was finally passed as an amendment. All it needed was ratification by 38 of 50 states in 10 years but by 1982, 15 states were still reducing so it wasn't passed. The USA didn't sign up to the 1979 United Nations policy of introducing non discrimination against women in all aspects of life. It was still very difficult to enforce legislation and employers became much more practised at finding "acceptable" reasons to discriminate against women in the workplace
post war changes
Once the war over, many women were not re-employed by factories. About half of the married women who worked during the war left work when it ended through choice, social pressure or because federally funded day care centres closed down in 1946. After a dip immediately after the war, the female employment rate rose again. Women had learnt several valuable skills during the war, which in turn made them more employable than before. This allowed them to compete for jobs that men would typically work in. As well as that, women had developed the desire and passion to work, regardless of being married. The attitudes of women weren't the only thing that the second world war had changed. There was also a change in the attitude of men, in 1936, 82% of men thought that married women should not work, however by 1942, that had dropped considerably to just 13%. The second world war opened opportunities to women that were not available before. Before the war, there had been many jobs that married women had been barred. Once the war began, women were needed to fill jobs that were left behind while the men were at war, and it was lifted. This meant that for the first time a wide range of jobs were available to all women.
Flappers
Some young women, nicknamed 'flappers', made the most of their independence. They worked. They cut their hair short, and wore short dresses. Some smoked and drank in public and even drove their own car. In short, they behaved like young men, even going to male dominant shorting events without men escorts. Some people were shocked by flappers, assuming that, along with other freedoms, flappers allowed themselves sexual freedoms too. Flappers shifted public perception of women, but they were only a small percentage of the female population and many adopted a more traditional role once they married, the way employers behaved made sure of it.
The roaring twenties: return to normalcy
The 1920s were later called the "Roaring Twenties" because an econoic boom meant that many people were better off than ever before. Once the war ended, there was an expectation that things would return to "normal" including women returning to their traditional rules as wives and mothers. Many people believed that women working during the had been an exception for exceptional times and women should not take work away from men returning from war. Pre-war: single women worked, married women stayed home and raised a family, unless the family could not manage financially without the wife working, most married women who had to work were obliged to work at home for very low wages. Some jobs, such as teaching, were barred to married women and many employers made it a rule not employ them.
the impact of the women's liberation movement, 1961-80
The 1963 report noted that from infancy girls were not encouraged to think about careers. Parents even thiusw who could afford it, seldom encouraged their daughters into higher education. In 1964, the civil rights act included sexual equality as well as racial equality in its provision. Women like all non white Americans soon found there was a wide gap between the passing of a law and its enforcement
the impact of the second world war
The Second World War rescued the US from the depression. Once again, women showed they could do men's work well. The iconic image of Rosie the Riveter rolling up her sleeve on a well muscled arm saying we can do it, was famous of many posters urging women to War work. During the early stages of the war, around 1940, only 16% of married women worked and this was mainly because of childcare problems. So, when the Lanham Act of 1941 helped extended childcare provision, the number of married women in the workforce by 1945 rose to 23%. The shortage of workers meant that black women could train for professions such as becoming a nurse, in which they were discriminated from. The number of nurses rose from 1,108 in 1939 to 2,600 in 1945.
The impact of the Great Depression 1929
The depression affected people across class rather than gender, bring unemployment, falling wages and rising prices. Women who were widowed, divorced or deserted had to take any work they were offered. A 1932 Women's Bureau of Labour report on women workers in slaughtering and meat packaging found that 97% of them were working as the only wage earner in the family or to boost the husbands wage, not because they wanted to work. Restricting working hours often forced women to break rules or lose their jobs. Those in work were luckier than those forced to apply to relief programs, if the state had any. Women with families faced significant difficulties raising their children in theses circumstances.
Gains to advancement
The movement did have some gains on top of equal pay act and civil rights act. President Johnson extended his executive order calling affirmative action to improve employment conditions for those discriminated against on the grounds of race, creed or colour to cover sexual discrimination as well. From 1970, a few states allowed for abortion in very specified circumstances. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled on a case allowing access to contraception to unmarried as well as married women Abortion was federally legalised on 22 January 1973, by a Supreme Court rulings
The impact of the new deal
The new deal administration understood that many families were under immense pressure in the 1930s and the burden of feeding them fell mostly on the women in the family. The new deals aid for families with dependent children provided some benefits for the poorest families but as a rule men came first in new deal policies on unemployment and working conditions. For example, the civilian conservation corps found work for young men aged 17-23 Eleanor Roosevelt wanted something similar for jobless young women to work in forestry. In 1933, the first camp was set up. By 1936, there were 36 camps taking about 5,000 women a year. However they took women for two or three months and provided no work or wages. Black women benefited less from the new deal. Black women were edged out of even the worse jobs by desperate whites. For every dollar a white man earned, a white women earned 61 cents and black women 23 cents on average.
opposition
The women's liberation movement attracted a lot of opposition, especially among men, even radicals. Some radical women's groups declared that all men were enemy. Conservatives of all kinds rejected the movement, stressing even more strongly the un Americanness of its demand and abandonment of traditional roles. Some didn't mind equal rights arm of women's liberation but objected to the calls for free contraception and abortion Others such as Phyllis schlafly objected demand of equal rights and set up STOP ERA ( stop taking our privileges)
