EMPLOYMENT Flashcards
Position of women in 1865
replaced men in agricultural work in rural areas
some work in nursing.
work considered as an extension of the domestic sphere.
after the civil war ended as more unmarried women entered domestic service or worked in factories but pay differentials were still great
work and married women 1865
married women were still banned from working either by convention or state legislation. Working-class married women were forced to supplement their income by taking in lodgers
1900 = workforce
Unmarried women had gone from 13% to 17 % of the total workforce
educated women from working in factories to the office environment as technology transformed the nature of the kind of work open to women
1900 - just under a million white-collar women workers
Women benefit equally
Afro - American, Hispanic, and other immigrant workers took over CHEAP/UNSKILLED/DANGEROUS WORKERS
Sweatshops
better of married women becoming liberated by new tech - vacuums
1917 - 1918
Married women able to enter the workforce
Opportunities opened for African American workers as there was large-scale migration from the south to the north largely caused by the difficulties of sharecropping.
This certainly widened the horizons for married war
women still believed that family and home is their ultimate objects was to be desired to make their lives meaningful
1950s - 1960s
The late 50s and early 60s, there were twice as many women at work compared with 1940.
There were 1.5 million working mothers in 1940
and 6,6 million in 1960
THE CHANGE -
There was a change in the pattern of female employment as more well-educated married women entered the workforce.
The idea of a second income' was now more acceptable.
More women were taking the opportunity to return to work when their families had grown up
There was a good deal of economic change generally and more jobs were available and open to women.
Women were cheaper to employ and so profit margins could increase.
The so-called new feminism’ was beginning to have an impact on both men and women.
MARGARET HAMILTON
Director of the software engineering division of the laboratory - NASA Apollo space program
impact of the equal Act agreement in 1964
Lawsuit against the fire brigade
gender segregation in jobs fell by 10% in the 1970s
The 1970s - 43% of women made up the total workforce - 73% were in work
P R O G R E S S
Women made up less than 5% of top executive positions, the glass ceiling
women now earn 98% of the rate of pay earned by men of equivalent experience and qualifications
1992 - 7.7 million women set up their own businesses and employed around 15 million workers
3.5 million women worked from home
ROARING TWENTIES
There was a massive expansion in manufacturing which meant increased prosperity for many (not all), and an increase in speculating on the stock market and investing in real estate (property investments).
o Henry Ford, the production line meant a vast increase of relatively cheap consumer goods and this meant more jobs for unmarried women and an easier life for middle-class married women.
1920s
3% increase in the number of working-class married women working in this decade.
This decade also witnessed the creation of new types of jobs as secretaries, typists, and filing clerks.
Overall, 2 million more women entered the workplace, and a small increase of women entering the lower level professions like nursing.
Nevertheless, women still faced discrimination from men who feared that their wages might be reduced because they worked alongside women.
Women and trade unions -
Membership of unions increased from 200,000 to 800,000 women in a decade.
However, African-Americans and Hispanics were not allowed into trade unions.
Japanese women began to dominate jobs in domestic service.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The Great Depression was to have a profound impact on women’s employment.
In 1926 1.8% of the total work force was unemployed. By 1933, nearly 25% were unemployed.
In the face of unprecedented levels of unemployment, job opportunities for women receded rapidly.
26 states tried to introduce laws banning the employment of married women. However, many women continued to work during the depression, recognising the benefits of a second wage when things were tough. Women were often forced to work OUT OF NEED if the male breadwinner was out of work
FDR - THE NEW DEAL
ROOSEVELTS new deal program,
1935 - social security act
1935 - aid to the dependent children act
1938 - fair labor standards act
1939, women teachers were paid 20% less than male teachers
native Americans helped - Indian reorganisation
1945
5 million more working women than in1940
75% of women started their desire to remain in work - after WWII
arried women in particular had realised that they could manage a job and still look after the home successfully (and this at a time when the federally-funded childcare support in the Lanham Act was being withdrawn. Only 3 states kept childcare provision after 1946.)
