America Theme 3 Flashcards
(70 cards)
the impact of the first world war on women
The war gave them a chance to work, although their wages were often less than a man.
Once the war ended, most women were fired, to open jobs to returning men.
One gain from the war was that Congress passed the 19th Amendment giving women the vote under the same state rules as men. Passed in 1919 and ratified 1920.
info on the roaring twenties
economic boom meant that many people were better off than ever before.
Mass production made consumer goods cheaper and hire purchase made them easier to buy.
Road building meant cars could travel further, faster
post war people assumed that women would return to old roles as housewives etc…
A Women’s Bureau of Labour was set up in 1920, to aid improve women’s working conditions and campaign for the wider employment of women. In 1920, 8.2 million women had work outside the home, by 1930 this had risen to 10.4 million.
margret sanger
birth control activist
1916 opened first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, which led to her arrest for distributing info on contraception.
convicted and sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse but went on a hunger strike
her trial generated controversy and subsequent support. she wanted to prevent back-alley abortions.
she imported diaphragms from Europe, as they were illegal at the time.
flappers
Some young women, nicknamed ‘flappers’, made the most of their independence.
They worked. They cut their hair short, and wore short dresses and silk stockings. Some smoked and drank in public and drove their own cars
In short, they behaved like young men, even going to male-dominated sporting events without a male escort
Flappers shifted public perceptions of women
the impact of the Great Depression women
affected people across class rather than gender
A 1932 Women’s Bureau of Labor report on women workers in slaughtering and meat packing found that about 97% of them were working as the only wage earner in the family, or to boost the husband’s wage, not because they wanted to work.
From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women in the United States rose 24% from 10.5 million to 13 million. The main reason for women’s higher employment rates was the fact that the jobs available to women— “women’s work”— were in industries that were less impacted by the stock market
A 22% decline in marriage rates between 1929 and 1939 also meant more single women had to support themselves.
By 1940, 90 percent of all women’s jobs could be catalogued into 10 categories like nursing, teaching and civil service for white women, while black and Hispanic women were largely constrained to domestic work
the impact of the new deal
understood that many families were under immense pressure in the 1930s and that the burden of feeding them fell mostly on the women in the family
The New Deal’s Aid For Families with Dependent Children 1935 under the Social Security Act provided some benefits for the poorest families, but, as a rule, men came first in New Deal policies on unemployment and working conditions.
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On 30 April 1934, Eleanor Roosevelt held the White House Conference for unemployed women; after this, women’s work camps were federally funded. by 1936, there were 36 camps, taking about 5,000 women a year.
negative impact on black americans from the new deal in terms of work
Black Americans benefited less from the New Deal than whites.
Black women were edged out of even the worst jobs by desperate white Americans.
Even when she had a job, a black woman earned less.
For every dollar a white man earned, a white woman earned 61 cents and a black woman earned 23 cents, on average
impact of the great depression on Mexican American women
400,000 Mexican-Americans moved out of the United States to Mexico in the 1930s, many against their will.
“The attitude was ‘they’re taking our jobs,’”
Mexican-American women who could find work often participated in the informal economy, working as street vendors or renting out rooms to lodgers as people downsized their homes.
black women and the great depression
For black women, meanwhile, the entry of more white women in the workforce meant jobs and decent wages became even harder to find.
In every place where there could be discrimination, black women were doubly disadvantaged.
One-fifth of all Americans receiving federal relief during the Great Depression were black, most in the rural South
Yet farm workers and domestic workers—the two main places you found black women— had no pension or safety net, they were excluded from the 1935 Social Security Act.
women position pre American involvement in WW2
Only 16% of married women worked in 1940, because of childcare problems.
Under the 1941 Lanham Act’s childcare provision was extended: by 1944, there were 130,000 children in day care
The percentage of married women in the workforce rose from 15 to 23%.
The Women’s Land Army of America re-formed to provide farm workers countrywide.
impact of world war two on women
1945- 6 million new women entered the workforce to take on men’s jobs and 25% of all married women were employed.
WW2 Opened up new, and in cases unprecedented opportunities for women in America
women enlisted in the official US military for the first time with the establishment of the women’s army auxiliary corps, which became the women’s army corps
WAAC women: drive cars, aided the intelligence service
post world war 2 changes / effect on women
Once the war was over, many women were not re-employed by factories that changed from making war goods (e.g. munitions) to other goods (e.g. electrical appliances.
After a dip immediately after the war, the female employment rate rose again, particularly for married women 45-54 years old.
Black and non-white women who had been trained often continued to work after the war and so they moved into a wider range of work than domestic and farm work, which had been their predominant employment pre-war.
In 1936, 82% of people thought married women should not work; in 1938, it was 78%; in 1942, it was only 13%.
changes in suburban living 1941-60
Suburbs sprang up in a post-war economic and building boom that made homes more affordable. Suburbs were in commuting distance of the cities.
they were usually socially segregated.
Black Americans lived very similar lives to white women in white suburbs, only in black suburbs, although some low-cost black suburbs grew up within reach of very expensive white suburbs - to provide a convenient pool of maids, cooks, nannies, gardeners and other staff
mixed subburbs were rare, but not unknonw
In the 1950s, suburbs grew rapidly: in 1960, 19 million more people lived in suburbs than in 1950.
Usually, the wage-earning husband went out to work while his wife stayed at home, looking after the house and children.
levittown
levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the USA by william j levitt
new york 47-51
pennsylvania 52-58
planned community for returning WW2 veterans
the first truly mass produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for post war suburbs throughout the country
clause 25 of the standard lease agreeement signed by the first residents meant that the levittowns were also a symbol of racial segregation.
the growth of suburbs effect on the inner cities
As people left the inner cities for the suburbs, those who remained were, largely, those who couldn’t afford to move out.
The long-term effect of this was that inner cities became locked into a downward spiral that was almost impossible to prevent.
Non-white ghettos grew - caused by, and fostering, racism.
kitchen appliances and their years
1908: Hoover first upright vacuum cleaner
1915: First fridges
1926: The Toastmaster, the first automatic timed toaster for home use.
1930: General Electric introduced the electric kettle with an automatic cut-out
1930s: 3 companies started selling electric stoves
1940s: The first commercial freezers for home use were designed in the 1940s.
1947: The creation of the microwave oven
political developments for women in work in the 1960’s
(JFK actions)
President Kennedy set up a Commission of Enquiry on the Status of Women.
In 1963, it published its results, praising the Equal Pay Act
the Commission also found that the Equal Pay Act was badly needed and needed enforcing.
Women accounted for one in three workers, but were discriminated against in access to training, work and promotion.
Their wages were uniformly lower and minimum wage regulations did not apply to the low-paid work that many women did, for example, hotel work or domestic work
The 1963 report noted that, from infancy, girls were not encouraged to think about careers
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act included sexual equality, as well as racial equality, in its provisions.
betty freidan
1963, The Feminine Mystique about the constraints of suburban life and the problems of white, educated, married women.
the book got many women thinking about womens rights.
The controversy the book provoked ensured it was widely read and argued about, including on television.
This spurred some womento organise themselves and work more actively for women’s rights.
The first and biggest national movement was the National Organization for Women (NOW), set up on 30 June 1966. Friedan was one of its founder members.
President John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10925, Equal Employment Commission
1961
government contractors had to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, colour, or national origin.
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246
1965
prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, colour, religion, and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Executive Order 11375
1967
banned discrimination on the basis of sex in hiring and employment in both the United States federal workforce and on the part of government contractors
young radicals in the womens movement
Its members were predominantly under 30, white, middle-class and college educated.
they worked with black civil rights groups such as the SNCC. Some had tried to raise the issue of women’s equality within these groups, but, despite their radical ideas, the men who dominated these movements were often sexist
They wanted immediate change and many drew direct parallels between their situation and the situation of black Americans.
The national magazine that spread news from all groups, started in March 1968, was called Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Run by volunteers, it began by selling about 200 copies. The next year it was selling 2,000, but collapsed under the workload.
a strike of women
26th august 1970, the 50th anniverssary of womens suffrage.
Some women just didn’t go to work.
Many more took part in countrywide marches and demonstrations, with slogans like ‘Don’t Iron While the Strike Is Hot’.
They all presented the same three demands:
·equal opportunity in jobs and education;
· free childcare that was community controlled;
· free abortion on demand.
The strike got a lot of publicity for the movement and membership of NOW rose by over 50%o
opposition to the womens liberation movement
received lots of opposition, especially among men, even radicals. some radical womens groups declared that all men were the enemies.
Conservatives of all kinds rejected the movement, stressing even more strongly the ‘un-Americanness’ of its demands and the abandonment of traditional roles.
As the swing away from 1960s liberalism kicked in, demands for women’s liberation lost support, along with many other liberal demands
