lOMoARcPSD|11700591
Women’s Rights Revision
1
lOMoARcPSD|11700591
Women’s Rights Statistics Beginning
Middle
End
Some intelligent and energetic married middleclass women began to campaign to reduce inequality and injustice. This was generally seen as socially acceptable. By 1900, half of high school graduates were female. However, women’s education was often seen as merely a stage in their preparation for marriage and motherhood. There was a general increase in the number of women admitted into higher education.
Men increasingly dominated social work during and after the New Deal.
Increasing numbers of women moved into higher education. Some women became involved in research. However, opportunities in law and medicine were still limited due to strong male resistance. The size of white middle class families reduced as more began to use birth control. However, religious families opposed birth control due to their beliefs, and poorer families couldn’t afford it, so the sizes of these families remained high.
Abortions were illegal in most states and illegal back-street abortions were still being carried out. In 1935, 89 legal abortions were reported in the USA, which increased to 675 by 1949. The divorce rate rose from 10.2% in 1940 to 18.2% in 1946.
Women gained the right to an abortion. However, poorer women could not necessarily afford an abortion. In 1960, 292 legal abortions were reported, which increased to 193,000 by 1970, 1.03 million by 1975, 1.55 million by 1980 and 1.6 million by 1990. In the 1950s, marriage rates reached an all-time high and the age of marriage was very low (22.8 years old for men and 20.3 for women). In the 1960s, 73,000 African American women were unmarried mothers, which increased to 1 million by 1980 and 2.9 million by 1990.
Social Women’s influence on society.
Education.
Higher education.
Childbirth and birth control.
Abortion.
Many women died in childbirth. Some white middle class families began to use some forms of birth control. The average birth rate fell from 5.42 children in 1850 to 3.56 children in 1900. However, the families of immigrant families continued to be large (6-8 children) due to their religious opposition to birth control. Abortions were illegal. Some poorer women resorted to illegal back-street abortions if they couldn’t cope with another child.
Marriage and divorce.
The divorce rate increased from about one in every 21 marriages in 1880 to about one in every 12 marriages in 1900. This was highly disliked by staunch supporters of the “separate spheres” idea.
Domestic violence and criminal offences against women.
The average number of children increased from 3.09 in 1950 to 3.77 in 1957, however it fell to 3.65 in 1960. By the early 1970s, the Pill become available to unmarried and married women 18 years old or above.
2
lOMoARcPSD|11700591
Separate spheres (e.g. the role of women in the home).
Women were respected in home and family life, but were not respected for doing much else. Many women suffered from depression due to loneliness.
The separate spheres ideology continued. When the rate of juvenile delinquency rose, women got the blame.
In the 1960s, there was a merging of the male and female roles and responsibilities in middle-class homes. In 1968, 65% of girls aged 15-19 wanted to be housewives by the age of 35 years, which had decreased to 25% by 1978. The percentage of white women who supported feminists increased from 37% in 1970 to 72% in 1985. The percentage of African American women who supported feminists increased from 60% in 1970 to 78% in 1985. The percentage of men who supported gender equality increased from 33% in 1972 to 40% in 1990.
Voting rights.
Women were denied the right to vote in most states. By 1900, four states had given women the right to vote: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
All women gained the right to vote.
Women in politics.
Politics was dominated by men. However, small numbers of women began to move into political officers of lesser importance.
By 1918, 20 states had given women the right to vote in state elections. The 19th Amendment (1920) gave women the right to vote. However, immigrant women who had not been naturalised remained disenfranchised. African American and Native American women in the south were prevented from voting by the states. The numbers of women in politics increased only very slowly through the first half of the 20th Century. By 1939, only nine women had entered federal politics.
Female engagement with politics and turnout.
Most women were disengaged from politics. However, turnout was sometimes high in some states where women could vote.
A lot of women remained disengaged with politics and had little interest in voting. The majority of married women who voted simply voted how their husband did.
By 1900, the number of female workers had tripled so that they now made up 17% of the total workforce. The number of women working as teachers, secretaries, librarians and telephone operators increased from 949,000 in 1900 to 3.4 million by 1920. By 1870, 13% of unmarried women worked in domestic occupations or increasingly in factories.
During the 1920s, the overall number of women entering the workforce increased by 2 million, but these opportunities were lost during the depression. Women began to drift back into employment by the end of the 1930s and worked during WW2, however large numbers of women were laid off at the end of WW2. Non-married women made the most of jobs in WW1 and WW2.
Political
In 1968, only 20 women put themselves forward for election to Congress, however the number of women standing for election doubled between 1974 and 1994. The number of female House of Representatives members increased from 12 in 1970 to 47 in 1992. By 1992, 19 out of 100 of the US’s big cities had female mayors. Female engagement with politics increased. The number of women who said they would vote for a female president increased from 76% in 1978 to 86% in 1991.
Economi c Total number of women in employment.
Employment of non-married women and nonmothers.
From 1940 to 1960, the number of working women doubled. The percentage of women with a job increased from 40% in 1960 to 47% in 1970. Between 1970 and 1980, gender segregation in employment decreased by 10%.
By the 1980s, 50% of the most successful women were childless.
3
lOMoARcPSD|11700591
Employment of married women and mothers.
Married women on the Great Plains become cleaners, cooks, nurses, teachers, medicine makers, basic manufacturers and farm labourers.
During the 1920s, the percentage of working class, married women in the workforce increased from 22.8% to 28.8%. There were five million more working women in 1945 than in 1940, many of whom were married women. After WW2 there were fewer opportunities in professional occupations, whereas the number of men in professional occupations increased by 40%.
The number of working mothers increased from 1.5 million in 1940 to 6.6 million in 1960. By 1989, 73.2% of married women with children aged between 6 and 17 were working outside the home.
Female employment in professional, managerial and high-paid occupations.
There were no career pathways for women as managers and in traditionally male professions, such as medicine and law. Nursing was seen as an extension of the female role rather than a profession.
Female business owners.
Pay.
There were significant differences between the pay of men and women. By the late 1890s, immigrant female factory workers had to work, on average, 70 hours to earn just $5.
Wages of female workers remained low compared to male workers. In 1939, a female teacher earned 20% less than her male counterpart. Female white collar workers were paid less than male factory workers.
Conditions of work and working hours. Childcare and maternity.
Women generally worked in poor conditions.
Women in trade unions.
Women were mostly not in trade unions until small numbers joined them after 1900.
During the 1930s, the female membership of unions increased from 265,000 to 800,000. These were mostly working class women. However, union activity to defend women’s rights in the workplace had limited impact. Also, unions for female workers were exclusively white, so the most exploited female workers (African American and Mexican American) had no representation.
By the mid-1980s, only five states provided partially paid maternity leave. By 1992, affordable childcare was still had to find. Increasing numbers of women joined unions in the 1970s, which came to be known as “trade union feminism”.
Finance, credit and property ownership. Welfare aid.
Some women benefitted from New Deal policies that were intended to address wider economic issues, however most policies were biased in favour of male breadwinners.
The lack of female managers and executives became known as the glass ceiling. During the 1970s, only 4.8% of America’s three million managers and executives were women. The percentage of women in higher education who wanted a career increased from 21% in 1970 to 40% in 1980. By 1996, women owned 7.7 million businesses in the US, employing around 15.5 million people. By the mid-1990s, young, educated women earned about 98% of men’s rates of pay.
4
lOMoARcPSD|11700591
Women’s Social Rights – Federal Government Help/Hinder Social right
Beginning (18651915)
Middle (1915-1950)
End (1950-1992)
Women’s influence on society.
Impact: Some intelligent and energetic married middleclass women began to campaign to reduce inequality and injustice. This was generally seen as socially acceptable.
Impact: Men increasingly dominated social work during and after the New Deal.
Impact:
Evidence: The federal government started prohibition in 1920 (18th Amendment) and ended prohibition in 1933 (21st Amendment).
Impact:
Impact:
Evidence:
Evidence: Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972) required schools receiving federal funds to provide equal access to educational programs for men and women, which increased the growth of sports for girls at high school.
Evidence: Education.
Impact: By 1900, half of high school graduates were female. However, women’s education was often seen as merely a stage in their preparation for marriage and motherhood.
Evidence:
Evidence:
Higher education.
Impact: There was a general increase in the number of women admitted into higher education. By the late 1860s, medical colleges had strict controls on the number of women they admitted and allowed to graduate, largely due to opposition from male physician. Evidence:
Impact: Increasing numbers of women moved into higher education. Some women became involved in research. However, opportunities in law and medicine were still limited due to strong male resistance.
Impact: Exclusively male colleges were closed in the 1970s. Evidence: Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972) required schools receiving federal funds to provide equal access to educational programs for men and women, which increased the growth of sports for girls in collegiate and professional education.
Evidence: The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944 (the G.I. Bill of Rights) meant that exservicemen were funded for higher education, whereas women were not.
5