Changing Roles in Women

Question 1

give 5 areas in which women faced change and continuity

Answer 1

-First World War
-Employment
-Politics
-Birth Control
-Flappers

Question 2

give an example of the changing roles of women in the WW1 (3)

Answer 2

-women worked trad male roles eg Navy
-enlisted as clerks, radio electricians, chemists, accountants, nurses in Marine Corps also heavy industry, engineering works and transport

Question 3

give 2 examples of continuity of the roles of women WW1

Answer 3

-Army still conservative over 21,000 women enlisted but only as clerks, fingerprint experts, journalists and translators
-war jobs temporary

Question 4

give 2 examples of changing of women’s roles in employment

Answer 4

-by 1930 2 million more women were employed than 10 years earlier
-new career opportunities for women in ‘women’s job’s’ eg librarians and nurses

Question 5

give 3 examples of continuity in women’s roles in employment

Answer 5

-womens jobs typically unskilled, low paid compared to men
-government/ Supreme Court unsupportive
-not much opportunity in further education or after university jobs

Question 6

give 2 statistics/facts about women not being provided oppourtunities in uni/after uni (continuity)

Answer 6

-by 1930 only 4% uni professors women despite 1/3 of uni degrees given to women
-medical schools allocated only 5% spaces to women so number of female doctors declined after 1920

Question 7

how was the Supreme Court unsupportive of women (continuity)

Answer 7

banned all attempts for minimum wage for women

Question 8

give an example how the government was unsupportive of women (continuity)

Answer 8

-1927 the gov took employer’s side when Tennessee textile workers went on strike
-arrested by local police

Question 9

how many women were dentists and accountants compared to women in the domestic sphere

Answer 9

approx 100 dentists and 150 accountants compared to 70,000 in the domestic sphere

Question 10

give 2 examples of women’s changing roles in politics

Answer 10

-19th Amendment
-1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross first female governor of state (in Wyoming)

Question 11

give 3 examples of continuity on the role of women in politics

Answer 11

-women disinterested in politics voted same as husbands
-failed to get Equal Rights Amendment Act which would give legal equality with men
-political parties only wanted them as votes not candidates

Question 12

give 2 examples of changing roles of women in birth control

Answer 12

-1921 Margaret Sanger formed American Birth Control League
-tried to distribute articles about birth control

Question 13

give 2 examples of continuity in the roles of women in birth control not including Margaret Sanger

Answer 13

-up to 50,000 backstreet abortions due to lack of contraception
-criticised for association with eugenics

Question 14

give 2 examples of continuity in the roles of women in birth control including Margaret Sanger

Answer 14

-Margaret Sanger’s articles on contraception banned by Constock Act 1873
-Margaret Sanger arrested 1916 for opening contraception clinic

Question 15

explain how flappers demonstrate a change in women’s role

Answer 15

challenge to traditional appearances and beliefs about women, expressing more independence

Question 16

give 3 examples of how flappers were negatively portrayed (continuity)

Answer 16

-Anti Flirt Leagues formed
-blamed for social problems and negatively seen
-not all women could be flappers, only white, single, upper class women could afford to

Question 17

give 3 examples of change for women during the 30s/ Great Depression (2 statistics)

Answer 17

-more women in the work force although poorly paid
-1930-40 employment rates for women rose 24% 10mil–>13mil
-1929-1939 22% decrease in marriage rates

Question 18

explain why employment rates for women rose 24% 10mil–>13mil between 1930-40

Answer 18

women industries were least affected by the crash

Question 19

explain why between 1929-39 there was a 22% decrease in marriages

Answer 19

more single women were supporting themselves

Question 20

explain how the New Deal affected women with examples (3)

Answer 20

-rapid expansion of gov in NewDeal inc demand for secretarial roles and created employment opportunity although limited
eg CCC employed 6000 women but NRA hired none and WPA confined women to low paid domestic roles

Question 21

give two prominent women role models during the New Deal

Answer 21

Eleanor Roosevelt
Secretary of Labour Frances Perkins

Question 22

what did Eleanor Roosevelt do during the New Deal

Answer 22

lobbied her husband for more women in office eg Frances Perkins

Question 23

who was Frances Perkins and what did she do

Answer 23

-first woman to hold cabinet position, was Secretary of Labour
-driving force behind Social Security Act
-called married women competing for jobs selfish and was backed by 1932 Economy Act

Question 24

how many Mexican Americans moved out of the USA to Mexico in the 30s and why

Answer 24

approx 400,000, viewed as stealing American jobs despite working in informal economy eg street vending and room renting

Question 25

what fraction/percentage of all Americans receiving relief during the Depression were AA and what were AA excluded from

Answer 25

1/5 or 20% however they were excluded from the Social Security Act

Question 26

give an example of social change for AA in the New Deal

Answer 26

-FDR’s ‘black cabinet’ led by Mary McLeod Bethune ensured every New Deal Agency had a black advisor
-as a result number of AA in gov tripled