key info/dates - changing economic/employment opportunities

Question 1

how many women worked between 1840s-1920s) - 3x %

Answer 1

10% of free women -1840s
15% - 1870
24% - 1920s

Question 2

which work did women do towards the end of the 19th century

Answer 2

domestic service, textiles, white-collar work, education & care professions

Question 3

why were there more opportunities for female workers

Answer 3

• more female education
• greater economic diversity

Question 4

changes in employment

Answer 4

1. less domestic service work by 1917 than 1860s
2. rise in office work
3. female labour took over in textiles - instead of child labour

Question 5

continuity regarding employment

Answer 5

1. much female employment based on traditional roles eg. childcare, nursing & textiles
   –> opportunities for management, business & higher wages were limited
2. wage gap between men/women
3. white american women: reluctant to employed married due to idea they belong in the home
4. AA women: low paid factory work, domestic service & sharing tasks on smallholdings
5. little female membership of trade unions

Question 6

change in employment of WW1

Answer 6

• higher demand for engineering products, war material, food processing & textiles
• opportunities in farming
• 3 million extra jobs in industry/farming
• more women in armed forces
• many worked in heavy industry
• worked in transport

Question 7

how many women worked directly in the armed forces by 1918

Answer 7

30,000

Question 8

how many women travelled overseas for war work

Answer 8

around 20,000

Question 9

what was the issue with these changes

Answer 9

often did not outlast war

Question 10

which type of women worked in the inter-war period

Answer 10

mostly unmarried

Question 11

more continuity or change in WW1? what aspect?

Answer 11

continuity - type of work

Question 12

what did the onset of the depression in 1929 cause

Answer 12

pressure on women not to ‘steal’ men’s jobs

Question 13

were women employed more/less, why

Answer 13

more as paid less

Question 14

what did this higher employability rate cause

Answer 14

an increase in women working from 12% to 15% in the 1930s

Question 15

how many women were recruited for WW2

Answer 15

100,000

Question 16

how many women entered the workforce - what fraction of total workforce

Answer 16

6 million = 1/3 of all workers

Question 17

what jobs did women have in WW2

Answer 17

new roles, eg:
- heavy industries
- lumber
- steel mills
- transport

Question 18

what encouraged women to join workforce & what did it enforce

Answer 18

= propoganda
- enforced idea that women were able to do heavy work & skilled assembly tasks

Question 19

negatives

Answer 19

• wage levels were unequal
• women kept domestic responsibilities

Question 20

what happened at the end of the war (negative)

Answer 20

• return to more traditional work

Question 21

what happened at the end of the war (positive)

Answer 21

• more women into higher education eg. 1/2 uni graduates were women by 1986

Question 22

what fraction of uni graduates were women by 1986

Answer 22

1/2

Question 23

what contributed to more white-collar & public-service work

Answer 23

economic diversification & growth of government

Question 24

whilst inequality remained, what began to better it

Answer 24

• equal pay act
• feminism improved = more awareness of other issues facing women eg. sexual harassment in the workplace