Women civil rights - in-depth studies

Question 1

How did the Gilded Age help the position of women?

Answer 1

The economic expansion of industrial USA produced urbanisation and diversification.
It offered more opportunities for women outside traditional domestic work.
The number of domestic women servants fell by half between 1870 and 1900 while clerical occupations increased by 10x, and factory work from 18% of employed women in 1870 to 22% in 1900.

Question 2

How did the Gilded Age help the position of women - trade unions?

Answer 2

There was more evidence of women unionising to defend their rights.
In 1881, the Knights of Labour (national TU) offered support for women.
Women became union organisers and by the mid-1880s there were 113 women’s assemblies and a female membership of 50,000.

Question 3

How did the Gilded Age help the position of women - individuals?

Answer 3

Progress was not constant, but women did gain experience of standing up for their rights.
Mary Harris Jones struggled for mine workers for 50 years, organising miners’ wives to oppose strike breaking and a famous march of factory children from Pennsylvania to Washington.
Other prominent organisers were Kate Richards O’Flynn, Rose Pastor Stokes and Elizabeth Gurney Finn.

Question 4

What is the summary of how the Gilded Age impacted women?

Answer 4

Although industrialisation brought hardships, it also brought opportunities, changing employment patterns and opportunities for women to organise and assert themselves in a new industrial society.

Question 5

How did the Gilded Age hinder the position of women?

Answer 5

Industrialisation, especially with the influx of cheap immigrant labour, accentuated inequality and led to harsh conditions and sexual exploitation.
In industry, women were still concentrated in textiles and cotton mills. They were usually confined to unskilled labour and had few opportunities for advancement.
In sweatshops, low wages and hazardous and oppressive working conditions were common.

Question 6

How did the Gilded Age hinder the position of women - difference to men?

Answer 6

An 1890 Bureau of Labor survey showed that of 800 men and women doing the same work, the majority of men got higher wages.
The gap was greater in southern factories.
Also, the expansion of cities brought the rapid growth of prostitution as some girls and women preferred the dangers of sex work to the poor wages and conditions which were the alternative in domestic service or factories.

Question 7

How did the Gilded Age hinder the position of women - trade unions?

Answer 7

Male trade unionists offered little support for women workers, whom they saw as undercutting wages.
In 1882, a textile mill strike in Massachusetts about a pay rise failed, with no male support.
Although KOL did promote women membership, the successor, AFL, did not, and represented only skilled workers, which women could not become.
By 1900, only 2% of trade unionists were women.

Question 8

What is the overview of the gilded age?

Answer 8

Women did strike repeatedly, and despite difficulties, formed new organisations in the 1900s.
For all the hard work and bad conditions, the cities offered opportunities that either rural America or poverty stricken areas of Europe, which immigrant were forced to leave, did not.
Women could run successful businesses, even if they did not rise out of poverty.
The decline in domestic service, which was notoriously poor rewarded and oppressive, was a major benefit.
However, women were sexually harassed by foremen and employers, struggled to maintain themselves and family, and endured horrible conditions.

Question 9

How did the New Deal hinder women’s position?

Answer 9

Women had been in the front line of job losses both in federal and state posts and in private industry and commerce, where the pressure was to save the jobs of the men.
Falling wages hit many, especially domestic workers who were largely unprotected by labour legislation and included many non-white and immigrant workers.
Despite the women being brought to Washington to advise and help to run new deal agencies, historians believe gender discrimination was the norm.

Question 10

How did the New Deal hinder women’s position - men?

Answer 10

The public works projects paid by federal money mainly provided jobs for men, who dominated the large scale construction projects.
Regulations of wages confirmed the large wage gap between men and women.
While it was claimed women’s talents were being employed in the New Deal administration, they were rarely involved in major decisions.
The high power women often accepted the priority of getting men back into work to ensure stability of family life.

Question 11

What is an example of the new deal’s limitations?

Answer 11

The Farm Security Act 1937 showed the limitations. This improved the conditions of many poorer southern farmers, but could do little about the traditional unfairness of rural life for women. There were limits to how far the new deal could change social attitudes.

Question 12

How did the New Deal help the position of women - aims?

Answer 12

Positions of power were held by ‘social justice’ feminists.
They were anxious to use their power to achieve key aims such as child labour legislation.
They were also anxious to show that women should take the wider view of national interests as opposed to merely acting as special pleaders for women’s issues.
So, it was important to support the overall aims of the Roosevelt administration in getting men back to work and show objectivity in responding to the realities of the situation.

Question 13

How did the New Deal help the position of women - individuals?

Answer 13

Florence Kelly argued that it was their role to regulate industry as a whole, not just to set up special regulations for women.
Women had been taken into positions of authority.
Frances Perkins was Secretary of Labour 1933-45, Mary Dewson was director of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Party 1932-34, chair of the women’s advisory committee 1934-37 and member of the social security board 1937-38.
This shows a major advance in the employment of women in government.

Question 14

How did the New Deal help the position of women - context?

Answer 14

Some suggest there was a considerable influx of high-powered women in politics and government, who formed an important network for the future.
If there was discrimination against married women, it reflected the prevailing public mood.
A 1936 Gallup Poll said 4/5ths agreed that married women with working husbands should not work.
There was more married women working in 1940 than 1933.
It was important to give women experience in power.

Question 15

What are examples of the New Deal helping?

Answer 15

The 1933 passing of the Federal Emergency Relief Act finally allowed financial assistance, and homeless women could seek additional refuge in city shelters.
The legislation against employing married women in 1932 created considerable hardship, but this indicated the vital support that the new deal could offer even if by modern standards it continued to discriminate against women in terms of job creation and equal wages.

Question 16

How did the Black Power movement hinder the position of women - sexism?

Answer 16

Studies draw attention to the sexism inherent in the Black Power movement.
The macho posturing of males and their talk of reclaiming male sexuality did not seem promising for women supporters.
There was a tendency to see feminism as a ‘white women’s thing’, and black activists called for black women to walk behind the men in protesting and political activity.

Question 17

How did the Black Power movement hinder the position of women - anti-women?

Answer 17

In 1965, the NOI condemned birth control.
Women responded by forming their own organisations, instead of trying to influence and lead existing ones.
Black women were conscious of suffering racism, classism and sexism. The movement did not address their concerns, and was in some ways part of the problem not the solution.

Question 18

How did the Black Power movement hinder the position of women - radical?

Answer 18

The radicalism was harmful to the women’s rights cause, as it suggested that both black power and suffrage were part of a wider movement to destabilise US society and undermine the silent majority of middle-class conservative USA.

Question 19

How did Black Power help the position of women - equal role?

Answer 19

Some argue that women took a key role in shaping black power, and gained from participating.
Farmer suggests that the pamphlets and posters produced portray women as revolutionary equals, and that women activists developed a wide range of aims involving day care, food aid and support for poorer neighbourhoods.
In the early 1970s women made up two-thirds of the membership of the Black Panthers, and their activities, particularly at a local level, helped to define the movement as much as the more dramatic image of male power.

Question 20

How did Black Power help the position of women - important role?

Answer 20

The view plays down the resistance and sexism faced by women, and stresses their role.
Women played an important role in the grass-roots element of the civil rights movement in the 1950s.
They had taken a leading part in the Birmingham Bus Boycott, the freedom rides and sit ins.
Women were not only important organisers in the march on Washington, but thousands joined in, although none were invited to speak.

Question 21

How did women counter the view that women were inferior in the Black Power movement?

Answer 21

There was a danger that women would simply provide support for the men by secretarial and catering roles, but this was rejected by younger activists like Elaine Brown and Kathleen Cleaver.
Black Panther women members wrote articles, designed posters, gave legal advice and were organisers and speakers, often making links to local communities.
Some of this fell into ‘women’s roles’, but they did take leadership positions

Question 22

What is an example of women countering the view of being inferior in Black Power?

Answer 22

Ericka Higgins was a high ranking member of the organisation in Connecticut and elaine brown was second in responsibility only to the founder.
Studies show the experience of taking a major role in organised civil rights radicalism developed pride and confidence, which overrode the discrimination and suspicion of feminism in the movement.