Changing Roles of Women Flashcards
Female Suffrage
Not able to vote prior to WW1, war enabled work yet there was a pay gap between men and women
War ended= women gave up jobs to returning men
19th Amendment of the Constitution gave women right to vote 18th August 1920
Poor women/black women rarely votes= white picket fence view type (middle/upper class)
Employment Discrimination 1917-1980
- Paid less
- Less likely to get a job than a man
- More likely to be made redundant
- Unlikely to reach top jobs (Glass Ceiling)
- Seen as unreliable and less committed than men
- Given no credit for intelligence and ideas
- Not given jobs as may get pregnant
Female Employment in the 20s
Period of Normalcy under Warren G. Harding traditional jobs pre war expected= housewives’ and mothers
New jobs for single women- typists/shop assistants
Women’s Bureau of Labor created 1920 as number of female employed rose from 7.6 mil-13
‘Last hired, first fired’
GIbson Girl
Feminine ideal of physical attractiveness portrayed by artist Charles Gibson
By WW1 changing fashions caused Gibson Girl to fall out of favour to women
Flappers and Society
1920s Boom time and social change after war
Flappers wore revealing clothes, looked less feminine and delicate, ‘de-sexing of women’
Cut their hair short, wore short dresses and silk stockings
Some smoked and drank in public and some drove cars, and some attended male orientated sporting events without an escort of a male
Shifted public perception of women
Women in the Depression and New Deal
Women ended up as sole breadwinners during Depression
Women with families suffered great hardships in raising children in the economic circumstances
New Deal did aid families with dependent children- but as a rule, men were deemed priority in New Deal policies
No Alphabet Agencies for women, 36 camps set up to help unemployed women
WPA led by Florence Owens Thompson a native America encouraged women back to work
Fannie Peck and Housewives League of Detroit
Fannie Peck founded Housewives League of Detroit 10 June 1930- 50 members to advance economic status of African Americans
Became a national organization for the rights of African American Housewives
Changes to Home environment
Electrical goods such as fridges, freezers, vacuum cleaners, toasters, irons, and washing machines led to revolution in household
Time saving= work and look after house
Key Fact
Frances Perkins first female Cabinet Minister as FDR’s Secretary for Labor
FDR’s wife also had a voice in FDR’s presidency for women
Women and WW2
Men were prepared to be drafted to war even prior to entering- Selective Training and Service Act, prepared to train women to fill their jobs
16% women worked in 1940 because of childcare problems. 1941 Lanham Act extended childcare provision
3 million women worked in agriculture by 1943
Work shortage also meant black women could be trained for jobs not previously open to them
Post War Attitude to women at work
Female employment rose again after war especially married women 45-54
War altered attitudes of husbands 82% in 1936 thought married women should not work, 1938 78%, 1442 13%
End of war led to return of traditional roles
1950s Housewife
Women only earned 53% of what men did
Much of war eqaulity led to more tradiitonal roles for men and women
‘A women’s place was in the home’
More women did go to work however
1960 40% women were in stereotypical low income women’s jobs such as office and retail.
Impact of Suburbia
In the post construction boom, newly built suburbs offered significant numbers of middle class and upper working class Americans the lure of house ownership
The homes on offer were affordable, and in commuting distance from the major cities
1960- 19 million people lived in suburbs
Encouraged social networks many housewives, and more white peoples only
Suburbs also generated a subset of women with far too much time on their hands
Timeline of Feminist CRM
1961- JFK called for Commission of Enquiry on the ‘Statue of Women’
1963- Equal Pay Act
1964- Civil Rights Act
1966- Formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
1969- Formation of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. Women’s Equality Action League (WEAL) formed
1970- Some states allowed abortion
1972- Supreme Court ruling to permit access to contraception for unmarried women
Equal Rights Act added to Constitution (but never ratified) STOP ERA formed by Phyllis Schlafly
1973- Abortion was federally legalized
Women’s Liberation Movement
1961, JFK called for a Commission of Enquiry on the ‘Status of Women’
Two years later, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act.
JFK’s Commission reported tat the Equal Pay Act was great, difficult to enforce for a number of reasons:
- Women were discriminated against in employment training
- Inadequate day care facilities for mothers
- Hotel and domestic work was not included in minimum pay rates
- Girls were not encouraged to think about careers and not enough school employment counsellors
Nevertheless, the report did have an impact on the passing of the Civil Rights Act 1964
