America - 1.3 Flashcards
1
Q
impact of WW1 on women
A
-gave women a chance to work (although their wages often less than men)
-once the war ended most women were fired and their jobs given to men
-congress passed the 19th amendment in 1920 giving women then vote under the same state rules as men
(as long as they voted in large enough numbers politicians would now address the broader issue of women rights)
-1920 league of women voters drove voting registration yet many poorer women dint vote or voted in the way their husbands told them to (few black voted)
-mainly educated white women who felt significant change
2
Q
impact of the roaring 20s on women
A
- after the war it was expected that women would return to their traditional positions as wives/ mothers
- many people believed women war work had been an exception for exceptional times, shouldn’t deprive returning men or work
- pre war single women had worked whilst married had raised a family unless the family couldn’t manage financially with one working parent
- most women were obliged to work from home for very low wages
- some jobs such as teaching were barred to married women
- widespread electrification meant that people could run more electrical appliances making housework quicker and alleviating women of domestic stereotypes
3
Q
women bureau of labour
A
- 1920
- aimed to improve women working conditions and campaign for the wider employment of women
- between 1910 and 1940, the number of working women went up from 8.3% of the pop to 9.8%
- although they were ‘last hired, first hired’ like many blacks, at least they were earning a living
4
Q
flappers
A
- young women made the most of their independence
- they worked, cut their hair short and wore short dresses with silk stockings. some smoked/drank in public and others owned their own cars
- they behaved like young men going to male dominated sports such as boxing without a male escort
- ore sexually lax way of living
- went to speakeasies that were seen as places were no lady would go alone
- they shifted public perceptions of women
- yet they were only a small percentage of the female population and many adopted a more traditional role once married (the way employers behaved made sure of this) often women of colour and religion were exempt
5
Q
Great Depression on women
A
- affected people across the country rather than gender, unemployment, falling wages, rising prices.
- if husband left job they managed but divorced, widowed or deserted had to take any work offered
- in 1932 Women’s bureau of labour report on women workers in slaughtering and meat packing found that 97% were working as the only fam wage earner or to boost the husbands wages, not because they wanted to.
- those in work were luckier than those who had to apply for relief or those flung into the migrant Labour market as this was enormous with most minorities all competing for poorly paid and strenuous jobs
6
Q
women bureau of labour - Great Depression period
A
- largely ignored within the bureau of labour because of tis focus on women and some women thought it was hindering women progress when it supported government legislation and when it pushed for legislation
- e.g. the Supreme Court’s 1908 fuller v Oregon ruling that women working hours should be no more than 10pd
- e.g. when it pressed for a minimum wage even though men didn’t have one yet
- by restricting working hours the poorest women were often forced to break the rules or lose their jobs (e.g. meat packing required more than 10 hours)
- labour regulations often only applied to industrial work no farming or domestic service where most black women worked.
7
Q
new deal on women
A
- New Deal’s Aid for Families with Dependent Children provided some benefits for the poorest families but as a rule men came first in New Deal policies on unemployment and working conditions (e.g. CC Founded for young men between 17 and 23 which employ about 2.5 million)
- Eleanor Roosevelt wanted something similar for jobless women. in 1933, the first camp, Camp Tera was set up funded largely by private donations and by 1936 there were 36 camps taking about 5000 women a year. (ERoosevelt held a White House Press Conference on this after it was federally funded)
- yet only took women for two or three months and provided no work or wages, smaller scale than for men and even when a black woman had a job she was paid less than a white (for every one dollar a white man earned a white women would earn 63 cents and a black woman 23)
8
Q
Fannie Peck
A
-black woman who set up a series of Housewives Leagues in Detroit in 1930
-encouraged women to shop in black run stores and organised local help for those in need
soon spread to other towns
-helped people on a small local scale
9
Q
New York State and aid for families
A
- in November 1931, NYS with federal aid set up the TETA
- in two years used over $230million of aid into helping families who were starving
- Flora Rose drew up a budget for TERA to show people how to feed families for $5 a week, budgets published by Eleanor Roosevelt
- at the heigh of the depression 1/5 needed help from TERA
- due to need to act quickly, volunteers were often sent to help families rather than trained professionals meaning they’re sympathy and handedness varied widely. some favoured Republicans, others waves more food.
10
Q
impacts of the SWW
A
- women showed they could do mens work (e.g. Rosie the Riveter rolling up her sleeve on a well muscled arm saying ‘we can do it’ became an iconic image)
- 1940 Selective training and service act prepared to draft men into the military and train women to fill their places, including in shipbuilding and aircraft assembly
- only 16% of women worked in 1940 due to childcare provisions so the 1941 Lanham Act’s childcare provision was extended meaning that by 1944, 130,000 children were in day care
- percentage of married women in the workforce grew from 15-23%
- The Women’s Land Army of America reformed (present in WW1) to provide farmworkers countrywide. it held workshops, meetings and had its own publication. The Labour Bureau estimated that there were 3million women working in agriculture by 1943 (approximate due to illegal immigrant base)
11
Q
SWW on black women
A
- worker shortages meant that black women could train for roles which they had previously been refused
- number of black women on nursing courses rose from just over 1000 in 1939 to 2600 in 1945
- some places refused black women employment saying they were bound to have and spread sexual diseases
- employees did too (e.g. in Detroit rubber plant, white women workers refused to share toilets with black women)
12
Q
women immediate post war changes
A
- many women were not employed by factories that changed from making war goods to other goods
- not all men returned to their old jobs (e.g. some took advantage of GI bills that guaranteed an education to returning soldiers) most did however
- 1946, federally funded day care centres shut down. some funded them for about a year longer until returning soldiers had found work
- about half the married women who had worked during the war left work when it ended
- yet widowed and divorced women had no choice but to work
13
Q
women post war changes after initial dip
A
- female employment start to rise again particularly for married women, very different to after WW1
- the % of married women in this age group in the workforce rose from 10.1 in 1940 to 22.2 in 1950
- before the war many women had been barred from jobs bur had been lifted during the war with few being reinstated after meaning a wider ranger were available.
(e. g. black women trained as nurses) - many more white women wanted to enter the workforce and were employed before coloured
- the war significantly changed attitudes of society and husbands to married women working
- 1936 = 82% thought MW shouldn’t work
- 1942 = 13% thought MW shouldn’t work
- yet this rose steadily to 38% by 1978
- the attitudes of married women also changed as they had now acquired skills that allowed them to work, developing an aptitude and appetite.
14
Q
drawbacks of SWW women work
A
- still paid less than men and this might have been a factor that encouraged employers to employee the,
- their work remained clerical, domestic or shop work
- a small proportion move away from clerical work into businesses such as insurance and advertising
- in many cases they faced hostility form the clerical group they had left and the male world they entered
- this could be relentless and preventing them from achieving as high as they might like.
15
Q
suburban living and integrated neighbourhoods
A
- suburbs sprang up in the post war building boom that made housing more affordable
- were in a commuting distance of the cities
- because they tended to be built with similar sized houses and plots they are usually social segregated
- some low cost black suburbs are up whiten reach of very expensive white suburbs, providing a convenient pool of maids etc
- happily integrated suburbs were rare but not unknown
- e.g. in 1957, a black couple bought a house in a 17,300 home white suburb (Pennsylvania) and the day they moved 3000 neighbours surrounded the house and there stones through the windows and burning crosses were put on their front lawn.
- state officials upheld their right to stay and banned large gatherings to prevent mobs forming
- Daisy was then later invited to join the neighbourhood association of women and gave talks to groups of women about how to integrate white suburbs.
16
Q
suburb growth
A
- in 1960, 19 million more people lived in suburbs than in 1950 and many had facilities and social amenity
- suburban life reinforced female domestic stereotypes
- suburbs created their own social network - if women worked they were often excluded from the friendship groups of those who didn’t
- housewives could also be excluded if they didn’t conform to the demands of the group of the developed (some developers didn’t allow fences)
- most had labour saving devices and the well off had maids
17
Q
suburban woman image
A
- created a subset of women with too much time of their hands
- portrayed on billboards, magazines and televisions 9e.g. I Love Lucy show) and this became the lifestyle to aspire to, the American dream of any women of any race
- one advertisement showed a husband returning to a candle lit dinner with the slogan, a tempting table for his highness
18
Q
impacts suburbs for those not living in the suburbs
A
- something to aspire to for those who didn’t live there
- those who couldst afford to move had to stay in the inner cities creating long term issues as theses areas became locked in a downward spiral of decline that became impossible to prevent
- not whit ghettos grew, fostering racism
- the educational and job opportunities for girls and women were scarce and so they had to be exceptional in order to change their situation
- yet suburbs had very little impact on the rural areas until they developed large out of town shopping malls becoming a focal point for many rural housewives providing a wider variety of goods at better prices than local stores
- first ever mall was built in Detroit in 1954
- from 1917-1980 women who lived and worked on farms were cut off by distance but also economically from many of the changes and opportunities that urban women could seize
19
Q
drawbacks of the politics of equality - women 1961-80
A
- in 1961, President Kennedy influenced by ERoosevelt set up a commission of enquiry on the status of women
- results were published in 1963, praising the equal pay act and the wider job opportunities for women
- this was a positive and significant change
- the report also found that the equal pay act was badly needed and needed enforcing
- women accounted for one in three workers but were discrimination against in access for training, work and promotion
- their wages were uniformly lower and minimum wage regulations didn’t apply to the low-paid work (e.g. domestic)
- there wasn’t enough daycare to help women work effectively
- the report also said that non white women were in a worse position due to to racial discrimination
20
Q
what else did the 1963 report of women say (education)
A
- form infancy girls weren’t encouraged to thin about careers.
- girls were rarely encouraged into higher education even if their parents could afford to
- 1958 Education Act said schools should have job counsellors to work with students. there were too few counsellors (only about 12,000 for all US state schools)
- few counsellors were trained, their advice described as patchy or even dangerous (e.g. not considering the ability and needs of the girls)
- report had some effect on gov thinking as the 1964 CRA included sexual equality yet women saw there was a gap between passing legislation and enforcing it
21
Q
Betty Friedan
A
in 1963, she published a book (feminine mystique) about the constraints of suburban life and the problems of white, educated, married women
- encouraged many women to think about their rights in a new way and spurred more to work more actively for women rights
- the controversy it provoked ensured it was widely discussed (e.g. on TV)
22
Q
NOW
A
- national organisation for women (NOW) set up in June 1966 with Friedan as a founding member
- aimed to work within the political system to get equality and better enforcement of CRA and EPA
- since 1923 conger had regularly been asked to pass an ERA but had failed, women wanted to pressure this
- held meetings, lobbied politicians, held demonstrations
- whilst they hoped change would come quickly their work was about educating people and campaigning about problems, providing services and support for working women.
23
Q
women’s liberation movement
A
- members predominately under 30, white ,MC and college educated
- some had jobs and many had worked with CRM groups or student groups (e.g. students for a democratic society - SDS)
- some had tried to raise women rights within these groups but men were often the leaders and were sexist (e.g. seldom letting women speak at public meetings)
- at best women desires were met with condescension but sometimes met with actual hostility and abuse
- wanted immediate change drawing parallels with CRM
- national magazine (1968) spread informal form all groups (voice of the women’s liberation movement)
- magazine run my volunteers and started selling 200 copies, year after 2000, then collapsed under the workload
- however had set the ball rolling even though the media focused on more extreme and inflammatory elements of feminism just like it had in CRM in the 1960s.
24
Q
what did the women’s liberation movement want?
A
- wanted equal rights, opportunity and pay
- wanted the right to decide about their own bodies
- in 1970, almost every feminist group (NOW and smaller groups like the National Coalition of American Nuns) participated in a strike on 26th august, the 50th anniversary of women getting the vote
- some didn’t go to work, others participated in national marches ‘Don’t iron while the strike it hot’, all united in the same three demands (equal opportunity in job and education, free childcare, community controlled abortion on demand)
- strike got a lot of publicity and membership of NOW grew by 50%
- brought issue into the public eye
25
Q
radical women lib groups
A
- attracted the most attention as they were easier to dismiss and make fun of than the NOW campaigners
- Kate Millet’s sexual politics (1970) tackled patriarchy in literature and mens attitudes towards women
- Gloria Steinem’s Ms magazine (1972) was praised for catering to the needs of the modern professional woman
- could be argued that the liberal atmosphere of these decades would have led to improvements but all CR campaigns together show that widespread publicity and campaigning for a cause is necessary to pass laws.
26
Q
opposition to women’s lib movement
A
- some radical women’s groups declared all men the enemy which didn’t help the cause
- conservatives rejected the movement, stressing the un-americanness of its demands the abandonment of traditional roles
- swing away from 1960s liberalism meant the movement lost support
- opponents had different agendas, some didn’t mind equal rights but rejected abortion
27
Q
Phyllis Schlafly
A
-objected to demands for Equal Rights Act and set up a group called STOP ERA (stop taking out privileges) to campaign against it in 1972
-set up an eagle forum, a conservative organisation to support family values and campaign against their demands
her reasons
-women designed to have babies so shouldn’t be equal in the matter of work
-didn’t want her daughters to do some jobs(e.g. the army)
-women would lose various tax and benefit privileges under equal rights
-her campaign is one of the reasons that by 1980, ERA was still not ratified by all states
28
Q
women - gains
A
- Equal pay Act
- Civil rights Act
- in 1967, Johnson extended his executive order called for affirmative action to improve employment conditions for all those discriminated against on the grounds or race, creed or colour (inc sexuality)
- yet the order only covered federal employees or businesses working for fe gov
- in 1970 a few states allowed for abortion in specified circumstances and federally elegised in 1973 (Row v Wade, alt ought rules about the timing and health of the mother)
- 1972 the Eisenstadt v Baird case allowed access to contraception for both married and unmarried couple)
- Equal Rights Act 1972, all it needed was 38/50 state ratification, 10 year deadline for ratification (1982 yet by this time 15 states were still refusing) and so there still isn’t an Equal Rights Act
