03. 1915-40 - Women and work, social change

Question 1

What economic opportunities did WWI bring for women?

Answer 1

From 1917, women took the place of men who were fighting e.g. working in factories.

Question 2

How many women worked in industry between 1917 and 1918?

Answer 2

1 million

Question 3

How many women served in the US Navy during the war?

Answer 3

11,000 (but as nurses, clerical workers, telephone operators)

Question 4

Why did the war not change much for married women?

Answer 4

While some married women did take up jobs (a change), they were expected to leave those jobs when the men returned from war.

This was widely accepted.

Question 5

In basic terms, how did the 1920s economic boom benefit women?

Answer 5

It created more jobs for unmarried women.

Cheaper domestic appliances (fridges, vacuum cleaners) made home life easier for married women (although this often meant they just invested more time with their children).

Question 6

What was the importance of credit?

Answer 6

During the 1920s, Americans were more able to buy on credit and thus (some) working class families could purchase, refrigerators etc.

Question 7

How far did the % of working class married women increase during the 1920s?

Answer 7

By a little: 23% to 29%

Question 8

How many more women entered the work force in the 1920s?

Answer 8

About 2 million

Question 9

Were women equally paid in the 1920s?

Answer 9

No - they were paid less for the same work

Question 10

Did women unionise in the interwar period?

Answer 10

Yes, many did. Union membership great from 260,000 to 800,000 during the 1930s.

In other words, union membership trebled.

Question 11

Were women’s unions diverse?

Answer 11

No - they were exclusively white

Question 12

In 1936, following the Depression, what did a 1936 Gallup Poll reveal?

Answer 12

82% of Americans were opposed to women working

Question 13

In short, what impact did the Depression have on women’s economic opportunities?

Answer 13

In the face of massive male unemployment, the apparent expansion of opportunities for women quickly receded.

Question 14

What did 26 states do during the 1930s relating to women at work?

Answer 14

Introduced laws banning married women from working*

*although only one state (Louisiana) actually passed the law, and it was ruled unconstitutional

Question 15

How did the Depression change expectations around work?

Answer 15

The expectation became that women - even unmarried women - should give up their jobs to make way for men.

Question 16

What was the basic idea of the New Deal?

Answer 16

To stimulate the American economy and get America working again

Question 17

Was the New Deal directed towards women?

Answer 17

Not really – it was mostly focused on men, although women did gain, generally indirectly

Question 18

How did the Social Security Act (1935) help women?

Answer 18

It provided some welfare benefits for poor families, thus helping some married women.

Question 19

How did Aid to Dependent Children (1935) help women?

Answer 19

It gave money to women with young families who could not work and where there was no male breadwinner.

These benefits mostly went to white women – and the application process was humiliating.

Question 20

How did the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) help women?

Answer 20

It set minimum wage levels (although women were still paid less than men)

Question 21

How did male and female salaries in teaching compare in the 1930s?

Answer 21

Men were paid 20% more

Question 22

How much support did the New Deal provide for non-white women?

Answer 22

Even less than for white women – those in rural areas particularly suffered as New Deal policies sought to suppress agricultural production

Question 23

Who was the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives in 1916?

Answer 23

Jeanette Rankin

Question 24

When was Jeanette Rankin elected to the House of Representatives?

Answer 24

In 1916

Question 25

Why were so few women involved in politics in the early 20th century?

Answer 25

It was considered too dishonest and disreputable a profession for women

Question 26

Who did the Nineteenth Amendment give the right to vote?

Answer 26

Women citizens over the age of 21

Question 27

How enthusiastically was the Nineteenth Amendment greeted by women?

Answer 27

Few women seemed to care.

Black women in the South struggled to vote. Working class women generally had to focus on survival, not politics.

Question 28

How many women had entered national politics by 1939?

Answer 28

Nine

Question 29

Who became the first woman judge on the US Circuit of Appeals?

Answer 29

Florence Allen

Question 30

Why was Florence Allen significant?

Answer 30

She became the first woman judge on the US Circuit of Appeals

Question 31

Was was Mary McLeod Williams significant?

Answer 31

She became the first black woman to enter the government as Director of Negro Affairs

Question 32

Who became the first black woman to enter government?

Answer 32

Mary McLeod Williams

Question 33

Why was Frances Perkins significant?

Answer 33

She was the first female member of the Cabinet

Question 34

What role did Frances Perkins hold?

Answer 34

Secretary of Labor (from 1933 to 1945)

Question 35

Did Frances Perkins do much for women while in office?

Answer 35

While she promoted social reform, she did little to directly promote increased opportunities for women

Question 36

Who was the role model for women in the 1930s?

Answer 36

Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady

Question 37

Why was Eleanor Roosevelt a role model?

Answer 37

She combined her role of wife and mother with active support for women’s rights (and other causes e.g. anti-lynching)

Question 38

Why was so little political change achieved in the interwar period?

Answer 38

Women were divided over how to best use the vote.

Question 39

Broadly, how was the women’s movement divided in the interwar period?

Answer 39

Some wanted to protect and prioritise the sanctity of home

Some feminist groups wanted equal rights (including an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution)

Some opposed the ERA as they thought in would reduce their protection (e.g. in a work place where their physical differences mattered)

Right wing anti-feminist groups opposed equal rights and campaigned against the feminist movement

Question 40

What did Jane Addams campaign for during the interwar period?

Answer 40

To regulate working hours and conditions for women - and abolish child labour

Question 41

What did Mary Talbert campaign for during the interwar period?

Answer 41

A campaign to prevent lynching

(The KKK had re-emerged following A Birth of a Nation)

Question 42

What did the Women’s Bureau, established in 1920 as part of the Dept. of Labour, achieve during this period?

Answer 42

Little.

It focused on improving working conditions which met with resistance from some employers and male unions.

Question 43

What did the Shepherd-Towner Act (1921) provide?

Answer 43

Funds for training for midwives to reduce infant mortality

Question 44

How effective was the Shepherd-Towner Act (1921)?

Answer 44

Not very - funding was stopped in 1929.

The American Medical Association, which saw it as socialist, lobbied hard against it.

Question 45

Why was legislation to limit women’s working days to 8 hours ineffective?

Answer 45

It was ruled as unconstitutional in 1922.

Question 46

What was a ‘flapper’?

Answer 46

A young upper-middle class woman who wore their hair and clothes short and engaged in behaviour that outrage their mothers (and fathers).

Question 47

How widespread were flappers?

Answer 47

Not very. It was limited to a relatively small, privileged elite.

Question 48

How enduring was the world imagined by Scott Fitzgerald?

Answer 48

Transitory – the changes his novels (e.g. The Great Gatsby) describe were not widespread or enduring.

Question 49

How did educational opportunities evolve during the interwar period?

Answer 49

The number of women graduates continued to grow, and so did women entering research and achieving doctorates.

However, there remained strong resistance to women entering the professions, especially medicine and law.

Question 50

What did Martha Thomas, an African American woman, found in 1921?

Answer 50

The Bryn Mawr Summer School for working-class women