Women - Textbook

Question 1

what problems did women face in the workplace

Answer 1

• paid less then white men for doing the same job even if they had more experience
• less likely to get a job than a white male applicant
• more likely to get fired if jobs needed cutting
• constantly passed over for promotions in favour of white men
• unlikely to reach the top level of their work environment
• seen as less committed
• seen as more unreliable
• not given credit for their ideas and intelligence
• turned down for work and refused promotion on the grounds they would get pregnant and leave

Question 2

women before FWW

Answer 2

• still struggling to get the right to vote

Question 3

what did FWW give women

Answer 3

• a chance to work although their wages often less than what a man would be paid
• one gain was that Congress passed 19th amendment 1919 to constitution giving women the vote under the same state rules as men

Question 4

women after FWW

Answer 4

• many fired when war ended to open jobs to returning men

Question 5

19th amendment (1919)

Answer 5

• gave women the vote
• ratified in 1920
• women could now vote
• as long as they voted in large numbers politicians would be forced to address the broader issue of women’s rights in order to gain votes
• 1920 League of Women Voters set up
• to conduct equivalent of CR voter registration drives
• to encourage women to vote

Question 6

how did women use the vote when they first got it

Answer 6

• many poor women didn’t 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 made a significant change

Question 7

what was the expectation for women after the war ended

Answer 7

• things would return to normal including women resuming their traditional roles as wives and mothers
• many believed women’s war was an exception for exceptional times
• women should not take work away from men

Question 8

discuss those married women who did have to work after FWW for financial aid

Answer 8

• most married women who had to work were obliged to work at home for very low wages
• some jobs like teaching were barred to married women
• many employers made it a rule not to employ them
• it was lives of single, well-off mostly white women that were most open to change after FWW

Question 9

impact of changing industries after FWW

Answer 9

• created many more office jobs such as working in a typing pool which became accepted as women’s work

Question 10

what was the Women’s Bureau of Labour set up in 1920

Answer 10

• to improve women’s working conditions and campaign for wider employment of women
• between 1910-40 number of women working went up from over 7 to over 13 million (8.3-9.8% of population)
• though women usually paid less
• on last hired first fired basis like black Americans
• but at least earning their own living

Question 11

discuss flappers

Answer 11

• made most of independence
• worked
• androgynous looks
• drove, smoked and drank in public
• went to male sporting events without escorts
• behaved like young men
• went to speakeasies and jazz clubs which were places were no lady should go alone

Question 12

what was the impact of flappers

Answer 12

• shocked many people
• shifted public perceptions of women
• but 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 this

Question 13

discuss impact of the Great Depression

Answer 13

• affected people across class rather than gender
• if husbands kept their jobs, women with families managed or looked for work to supplement their husbands income
• women who were widowed or deserted had to take any work offered
• 1932 Women’s Bureau of Labor report on women workers in slaughtering and meat packing found 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

Question 14

discuss the impact of the Women’s Bureau of Labor

Answer 14

• largely ignored within the Bureau of Labor because of its focus on women
• some women thought it hindered women’s progress both when it:
• it supported government legislation like the SC 1908 Muller v Oregon ruling that women’s working hours should be no more than 10 a day
• and when it pushed for legislation e.g. when it pressed for minimum wage: men had no minimum wage

Question 15

what was the impact of restricting work hours

Answer 15

• 1908 SC ruling supported by Bureau of Labor
• often forced poorest women to break the rules or lose their jobs
• work in places like meat packing plants often required workers to work more than a ten hour day

Question 16

discuss labor regulations

Answer 16

• often applied only to industrial work not to farming or domestic service where a large proportion of the labour force was black and female

Question 17

discuss the migrant labour pool

Answer 17

• those in work were luckier than those forced to apply to relief programmes if their state had any or those who found themselves flung into the migrant labour market
• the migrant labour pool was enormous with mexicans, blacks, mexican americans and whites all competing for badly paid, back breaking work in appalling conditions
• women with families faced significant difficulties raising their children in these circumstances

Question 18

discuss the impact of the New Deal

Answer 18

• FDR understood many families under immense pressure in the 1930s and burden of feeding them fell mostly on women
• New Deal’s Aid for Families with Children provided some benefits for the poorest families but as a general rule men came first in policies on unemployment and working conditions
• CCC for example was exclusively for men - lived in army run camps replanting forests and digging reservoirs

Question 19

discuss the impact of Eleanor Roosevelt

Answer 19

• wanted something similar to the CCC for jobless women to work in forestry
• in 1933 the first camp, Camp Tera was set up funded largely by private donations
• April 1934 she held White House Conference for unemployed women and after this camps were federally funded
• by 1936, 36 camps taking 5000 women a year
• but only took women for 2 or 3 months and provided no work or wages
• their only training was in budget management

Question 20

black women and the New Deal

Answer 20

• black women benefited less from the New Deal than whites
• edged out of even worst jobs by desperate whites
• even when she had a job black women earned less
• for every dollar a white man earned a white women earned 61 cents a black woman just 23

Question 21

how did Fannie Peck aid black women

Answer 21

• she was a black women
• set up a series of Housewives Leagues in Detroit in 1930
• organisations worked to encourage women to shop in black run stores and organise local help for those in need
• they soon spread to other towns and did help local people on a small scale

Question 22

SWW and women

Answer 22

• rescued USA from GD
• once again women showed they could do men’s work and well
• iconic image of Rosie the Riveter rolling up her sleeve on a well-muscled arm saying We can do it was the most famous of many posters urging women to war work
• percentage of married women in the workforce rose from 15-23%

Question 23

1940 Selective Training Act

Answer 23

• even before the USA went to war it prepared to draft men into the military and to train women to fill their places including ship building and aircraft assembly

Question 24

1941 Lanham Act

Answer 24

• 1940 only 16% of married women worked because of childcare problems
• 1941 Lanham Act extended childcare provisions
• by 1944, 130,000 children in day care

Question 25

Women’s Land Army of America

Answer 25

• formed during FWW and re-formed for 2nd to provide farm workers country wide
• held workshops and meetings and had its own publication women’s land army newsletter
• exact number hard due to issues of illegal migrant labour and women who took over family farm when husbands went to work
• Labor Bureau estimated 3 mil working in agriculture in 1943

Question 26

experience of black women in SWW

Answer 26

• worker’s shortages meant they could train for professions the had previously been unwelcome
• number of black women on nursing courses rose from 1,108 in 1939 to 2,600 in 1945
• but in some places employers refused black women saying they were bound to have and spread sexual disease
• some employees also difficult
• one rubber plant in Detroit white women refused to share toilets with black women

Question 27

what was labour like for women after the SWW

Answer 27

• once over many not re-employed by factories that changes from war good to other goods
• not all men returned to their old jobs as some took advantage of GI bills granting education to soldiers but most wanted old jobs
• about half married women who worked during war left through choice, social pressure or because federally funded day care centres closed down in 1946
• some states funded them for a year longer as solider’s found work
• but wives of husbands who died at war had no choice but to work

Question 28

discuss the rise in female employment after the SWW

Answer 28

• dip immediately after war then it rose again esp for married women 45-54 yrs
• women had an appetite to work and had developed the skills to do so
• signif change - v different to FWW
• married women in workforce in this age group rose from 10.1 in 1940 to 22.2% in 1950
• restrictions on what jobs women could do was lifted for war and rarely restrained after
• black women who’d trained e.g. as nurses during war continued to work so moved from domestic/farm work to wider work
• tho white women employed first

Question 29

how did the SWW change the attitudes of husbands

Answer 29

• 1936 only 82% of people thought married women should not work
• 1938 was 78%
• 1942 was 13%
• 38% in 1978 though

Question 30

quality of women’s work after the SWW

Answer 30

• more women worked but still paid lower wages than men
• might have been factor in employers choosing to employ them post war
• work remained mainly clerical, domestic or shop work
• small percentage of white women moved to main business industries but often faced hostility from group they left and entered
• though nothing compared to what black people faced in terms of desegregation etc…

Question 31

segregation of suburbs 1941-60

Answer 31

• usually socially segregated
• black americans lived very similar lives to white women in suburbs only in black suburbs
• though some low cost black suburbs grew up within reach of very expensive white suburbs to provident a convenient pool of cooks and maids etc…
• happily integrated suburbs rare through not unknown
• often black americans who chose to buy in a white suburb/could find someone willing to sell to them would face similar dangers to those trying to integrate schools

Question 32

discuss what happened to William and Daisy Myers in the suburbs in 1957

Answer 32

• black
• 1957 bought house in a white suburb
• the day they moved in 3000 neighbours surrounded the house and threw stones through the windows
• burning crosses put up on their front lawn
• they repaired the windows and stayed
• state officials upheld their right to stay and banned large gatherings to prevent mobs forming
• still harassed by some
• though others tried to be welcoming
• Daisy was invited to join neighbourhood association of women and later invited to give talks to groups of other women about how to integrate white suburbs

Question 33

expectations of women in suburbs

Answer 33

• usually husband worked while women lived at home
• if both worked childcare was needed which made suburban living far more expensive
• if women worked they were often excluded from friendship groups of those who did not
• housewives could also be excluded if they did not conform to the demands of the group or development
• some developments didn’t allow fences or had rules about babies nap times and cutting the grass
• most housewives had labour saving gadgets and well-off ones even had cleaners and maids and cooks

Question 34

how did suburbs influence the American Dream of women

Answer 34

• suburbs created a sub set of women with far too much time on their hands especially if they had once worked
• but this was portrayed in the media as something to aspire to, the American Dream of all American women of all races - though women in media usually white
• e.g. in the popular I love Lucy TV show
• one advert had a husband returning to a candle lit dinner with the slogan a tempting table for his highness

Question 35

how did the suburbs affect women who didn’t live there

Answer 35

• advertising made it something for them to aspire to
• as people left the inner cities those who remained were largely those who couldn’t afford to move out
• LT effect - inner cities became locked in a downward spiral that was almost impossible to prevent
• non white ghettos grew caused by and fostering racism
• education and job opportunities available to girls and women who lives in the inner cities meant they were going to have to be exceptional and work exceptionally hard to change their situation

Question 36

how did the suburbs affect women in rural communities

Answer 36

• had very little impact on those living and working in rural communities until large out of town malls developed
• they became a great focal point for rural housewives providing a greater variety of goods at better prices than local stores
• first of these shopping malls built in 1954 in Detroit suburbs
• from 1917-80 women who lived and worked on farms were cut off physically by distance and economically from many of the changes and opportunities urban women were able to seize

Question 37

what did JFK set up in 1961 influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt and what (+) did it find

Answer 37

• a Commission of Enquiry n the Status of Women
• in 1963 it published its results praising the EPA which passed in congress that year
• praised the wider job opportunities for women in federal government following a presidential directive of 1960
• positive and signif change for women effected

Question 38

what (-) did JFK’s 1961 Commission of Enquiry into the Status of women find in its 1963 report

Answer 38

• EPA was badly needed and needed enforcing
• women accounted for 1 in 3 workers
• but were discriminated against in access to training, work and promotion
• their wages were uniformly lower
• minimum wage regulations did not apply to the low-paid work which many women did like hotel work
• was not enough day care to help married women work effectively
• report said non-white women in an even worse position than whites due to racial discrimination
• many of their remarks could have been reprinted in 1980

Question 39

what did JFK’s 1963 Commission of Enquiry into the Status of women report find about education

Answer 39

• from infancy girls not encouraged to think about careers
• even parents who could afford it seldom encouraged their daughter into higher education
• 1958 education act had said schools should have job counsellors to work with students
• but there were too few - only 12,000 ish for all state schools in USA and very few in low income areas
• few councillors were trained - advice was patchy even dangerous and didn’t consider needs and abilities of girls they counselled

Question 40

what had impact on the 1964 CR act

Answer 40

• JFK’s 1961 Commission of Enquiry into the Status of women and its 1963 report

Question 41

CRA

Answer 41

• included sexual equality as well as racial equality in its provisions
• women like all non-white americans soon found there was a wide gap between the passing of a law and its enforcement

Question 42

who was Betty Friedan

Answer 42

• 1963, a psychologist and journalist, she published book about constraints of suburban life and the problems of white, educated, married women
• got many people thinking about women’s rights and their own lives in a new way
• controversy it provoked ensured it was widely read and argued about including on TV

Question 43

what was the impact of Betty Friedan and her book dynamically not just in terms of getting people talking

Answer 43

• spurred some women esp educated, middle class white to organise themselves to work more actively for women’s rights
• first and biggest national movement was the National Organisation for Women (NOW) set up in 30th June 1966
• Friedan one of its founding members

Question 44

what was National Organisation for Women (NOW)

Answer 44

• set up June 1966
• aimed to work within the political system to get equality and better enforcement of the CRA and the EPA
• Congress had regularly been asked to pass ERA and had failed to do this
• many women wanted to put pressure on Congress to change its mind
• held meetings, collected petitions and data, demonstrated and lobbied politicians (federal, states and local) for change
• saw themselves as needing to work steadily for change
• hope it would come sooner not later
• but focus on educating people, campaigning and providing services and support for working women

Question 45

give some examples of what the 1963 Commission report found

Answer 45

• 7 million non white women and girls belong to racial minority groups
• racial discrimination currently places an oppressive dual burden on millions of Negro women
• for negro women lack of opportunity for negro men as well as women (due to racial discrimination) has forced women to assume too large a share of family responsibility
• such women twice as likely to have to seek employment as other women while they have pre school children at home
• many other minority women faced language problems
• while members of these groups are skilled they are trapped in poverty and crime

Question 46

what was the second radical strand to the female liberation movement - what were the members like and how did it come about

Answer 46

• members were generally under 30
• white middle class college educate
• some had jobs but at lower level than men they went to college with even if better qualifications
• many had also worked with black CR groups like SNCC and SDS
• some tried to raise issue of women’s equality within these CR groups but despite their radical ideals the men who ran these groups were often sexist
• at best attempts met with condescension at worst hostility and abuse
• so they set up local and radical groups to push for women’s liberation and equality

Question 47

what did radical female groups want

Answer 47

• immediate change
• many drew direct parallels between their situation and the situation of black Americans
• it was the smaller radical groups that first used the phrase female liberation

Question 48

what media thing began in March 1968

Answer 48

• March 1968
• national magazine that spread news from all groups started
• called Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement
• run by volunteers
• began selling about 200 copies
• selling 2000 the next year but collapsed under the work load
• however it had set the ball rolling and other magazine and news sheets followed
• unfortunately the media focused on the more extreme and inflammatory elements of feminism
• just as MLK had complained the media focused on the more radical arm of the CRM in late 60s

Question 49

what did both strands of the female liberation movement want

Answer 49

• women to have equal rights opportunities and pay
• right to decide about their own bodies: be able to use contraception, married or not, abortion, choose who to have sex with
• they did work together

Question 50

strike in August 1970

Answer 50

• in August 1970 almost every feminist group including smaller ones participated in a strike of women on the 50th anniversary of women getting the vote
• some didn’t go to work while others took part in country wide marches and demonstrations with slogans like ‘Don’t iron while the strike is hot’
• all presented same 3 demands
• equal opportunity in jobs and education
• free childcare community controlled
• free abortion of demand
• strike got a lot of publicity and membership of NOW rose by over 50%
• brought the issue of equality into the public eye

Question 51

rising membership of NOW

Answer 51

• 1000 in 1967

- 40,000 in 1974

Question 52

what was the issue with radical groups

Answer 52

• they drew the most attention because they were easier to dismiss and make fun of than the NOW campaigners

Question 53

Kate Millet and Gloria Steinm

Answer 53

Kate Millets sexual politics (1970) tackled dominance of men in literature and their attitudes to women
she went to extreme lengths to criticise the patriarchy in literature

Gloria Steinem’s Ms Magazine (1972) was widely praised as catering to the real needs of modern professional women

Question 54

give a summary of the 1960s and 1970s

Answer 54

• its possible that in the liberal atmosphere of the 1960s and 70s legislation to change the position of women would still have been passed
• but it is unlikely
• the campaigns of black americans and other minority groups seem to show that changes in the law the first step to changes in reality were only gained after considerable campaigning and publicity for the cause

Question 55

discuss opposition to the women’s liberation movement

Answer 55

• opposition esp among men
• some radical women groups declared all men were the enemy and this did not help the cause
• conservatives rejected it stressing strongly the ‘Un-Americanness’ of its demands and the abandonment of traditional roles
• as swing away from liberal 60s kicked in demands for women’s liberation lost support
• opponents had different agendas
• some didn’t mind Equal Rights arm of liberation but objected to calls for free contraception and abortions
• other like Phyllis Schlafly objected to demands for an ERA and set up STOP ERA in 1972

Question 56

Phyllis Schlafly and STOP ERA

Answer 56

• 1972
• Stop Taking Our Privileges
• conservative opposition to women’s liberation
• set up STOP ERA to stop ERA been passed
• also set up Eagle Forum - conserv organisation to support family values and campaign against equal rights and abortion
• said women designed to have babies - shouldn’t be equal in work
• need support of husband when having a family
• didn’t want her daughters to be able to choose some jobs like the army
• women would lose various tax and benefit privileges under equal rights
• one of main reasons ERA was still in 1980 not ratified by all the states

Question 57

what did President Johnson do for women’s rights

Answer 57

• 1967 extended his EO by calling for affirmative action to improve employment conditions for those discriminated against on ground of race creed or colour to cover sexual discrimination as well
• the order only covered federal employed or businesses working for the federal government though

Question 58

discuss bodily rights for women in the 1970s

Answer 58

• from 1970 a few states allowed abortion in tightly specified circumstances
• 1972 SC ruled on the Eisenstadt v Baird case allowing access to contraception to unmarried as well as married women
• 1973 Jan abortion federally legalised by SC ruling in the case of Roe v Wade though rules about timing and health of mother

Question 59

Equal Rights Act 1972

Answer 59

• 1972 passed as amendment to constitution by congress
• needed ratification of 38/50 states
• set a deadline of 10 years - 1982 - for ratification
• fifteen states still refusing ERA in 1982
• there still isn’t an ERA

Question 60

what did the USA not sign up to in 1979

Answer 60

• the UN policy of introducing non discrimination of women in all aspects of life

Question 61

women in l ate 1970s -1980s

Answer 61

• still v hard to enforce legislation
• employers became much more practised at finding ‘acceptable’ reasons to discriminate against women in the workplace
• the women’s liberation movement disintegrated partly because of conservative opposition it faced and growing conservatism of the country
• but also because it fragmented

Question 62

how did the women’s liberation movement fragment

Answer 62

• all women did not need or want the same things
• though broad aims of the groups were similar the local issues they took a stance on varied
• the fact that so many of them were middle class white women did not seem to represent women as a whole
• many working class and non whites felt excluded and set up their own campaign groups focusing on more specific issues for them