Women Flashcards
- Their position in 1865 - the impact on women’s rights of the campaign for prohibition - the campaign for women’s suffrage - the New Deal - the World Wars - rise of feminism and its opponents - Roe v Wade 1973, the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment - changing economic and employment opportunities
Social: What year was the Griswold vs Connecticut act passed & what was its impact?
-1965
The SC ruled that women had a ‘right to privacy’ under the constitution = granted women control over their own bodies as opposed to the FG attitude in 1918 when Sanger was arrested for handing out contraceptives.
Ultimately spurred on further campaigning by women for the extension of their birth control rights as it laid the legal foundations for successive SC decisions like the landmark Roe v. Wade
Social: When did the FDA approve the 1st commercially produced birth control pill? - what was the significance of this?
- 1960
Again this was in complete contrast to the attitudes held in 1917/18 when Sanger was arrested for her provision of contraceptives. = shows a progression in the leniency & sympathy of branches of the FG towards women’s rights.
Social: What year was Roe vs. Wade introduced? - why was this so impactful?
- 1973
Roe v. Wade was so impactful because it was the SCs recognition & granting of almost full autonomy to women by allowing them to choose to have an abortion = showed that women were increasingly being seen as more multifaceted rather than their entire purpose being to reproduce.
KEY: W/out the relentless campaigning of women themselves, FG unlikely to have introduced this act.
+ could be seen as a reaction to the continuing trend of women entering the workforce in the 70s as in order to maintain women in the workplace, offering them the opportunity to have an abortion = women more likely to pursue careers.
Social: When did Margaret Sanger open the 1st US Birth Control Clinic? - What was its implication?
- 1917
The fact that Sanger was arrested for this demonstrates that the FG was unconcerned with improving the health of women & that in order for any significant changes to be made i.e. Roe v. Wade, the activism of women themselves was necessary to force the FG into aiding women.
Social: What year was the Sheppard-Towner act introduced? What was its impact in terms of Women’s rights?
- 1921
Provision of federal funding for maternity & childcare =
Political: What year was the 15th amendment passed? What was its impact on Women’s rights?
- 1870
The 15th amendment failed to include women in the constitution esp. concerning the right to vote. This firmly cemented the FG in a position of hinderance rather than aiding teh fight for womens rights.
Political: What year was the Minor vs. Happersett SC case passed? What impact did it have on Women’s rights?
- 1875
SC ruling that stated that women did NOT have the right to vote under the constitution, essentially deeming them to be 2nd class citizens. - at this point the SC & FG strongly resisting & hindering women’s rights
Political: What crucial/notable event occurred in 1878 & what did it lead to in st & lt?
Californian Senator Sargent introduces a federal amendment to give women the right o vote.
ST: Unsuccessful in gaining the right to vote
LT: lays the political/legal groundwork for the impactful 19th amendment & does essentially demonstrate that the Govt. wasnt wholly against improving womens rights
Political: In what year did Wyoming become the 1st state to grant women the right to vote? What did this demonstrate?
- 1890
Women’s demands for the right to vote can be witnessed from as early as the 1848 Seneca Falls Conference, this singular gain, although impactful, demonstrates that womens activism was not necessarily strong enough to result in immediate improvements & that the battle for improved rights would be a protracted process.
Political: When was the 19th amendment introduced & what did this mean for women?
- 1920
The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote, meaning that they were slowly being seen as political equals to men as they were now granted the ability & opportunity to influence decisionmaking.
However - only introduced due to relentless campaigning and picketing by NAWSA & Susan B Anthony
+ many women who voted simply voted for what their husband believed in or simply did not take advantage of their right to vote
Political: What % of women members of NAWSA joined the League of Women voters (LOV) - what does this suggest?
- Approximately less than 10% of NAWSA’s members joined the LOV
This implied that most women were indifferent to their position as if anything they merely wanted to consolidate their position in the domestic sphere
Political: When was the 1st woman appointed to a Presidential cabinet, what was her name & why was this important? & How does this compare to when the 1st Female SC justice is appointed?
- Frances Perkins was appointed as Secretary of Labour in 1933.
This was important as it showed that women were now becoming a valued voice in politics & had slightly more influence than previously.
- 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor = 1st female SC justice
- Although demonstrates that women were now increasingly trusted with policymaking & allowed into male-dominated fields, still show the limitations present for women.
- The nearly 50 year gap between the appointment of these women demonstrates that the battle for women’s political rights was arduous & very slow to make gains = perhaps a mixture of the federal govts unwillingness to improve women’s political position but also Women’s own lack of desire for an increased position.
Socioeconomic: How many men were killed in the ACW & what was the impact on women
Approx. 600,000 - 620,000 men were killed in the ACW - huge blow to the US workforce
This somewhat ‘advanced’ the position of women as it made many women assume the position of breadwinners, taking them out of the private sphere & into the public sphere which arg. may have emboldened women into creating suffrage organisations.
Economic: What year was the Muller v. Oregon Court Decision passed? - What was its impact on the position of women?
- 1908
This act demonstrated the FG/SC disdain for the advancement of women’s rights as it was used to justify sex discrimination in the workplace, restricting the no. hrs women could work for.
Socio-economic: How many women were working in WW1 & WW2?
- WW1: approx. 3 million more than had been working in the ACW.
- WW2: 7 million women were contributing their labour to the war effort in some way.
Both WW1 & 2 were somewhat significant (mainly in the ST though) in boosting women’s rights as they broadened the amount of women in work, expanding their & society’s perceptions of what women were capable of, emboldening women to push for greater social advancement as they had now experienced life in the public sphere.
LT: of lesser significance bc motivation = not for the advancement of women’s rights
- women used as placeholders for male workforce & forced back into the private sphere after the end of the war i.e. 1 million quit their jobs within a yr of WW2 ending.
Economic: By 1956, what % of male’s wages did females wages equal? - What is so significant about this?
- Female wages were 63% of men’s wages, on average!
This wage gap is significant in demonstrating that despite women’s increasing presence in the workforce, gender bias prevailed as women were still not seen as of equal value to their male counterparts
Economic: What year was the Equal Pay Act passed? - Why was this so impactful?
- 1963
Symbolically highly significant act as it was a crucial step forwards in the fight for greater economic rights for women as provided a legal basis for challenging discrimination.
However, its actual impact v. limited bc it was not properly enforced, as demonstrated by the continuing issue of the wage gap which extended beyond the 1990s.
Economic: In 1973, what % of male wages were female wages equal to? What does this suggest?
- By 1973 female wages had now fallen to only 57% of men’s, in contrast to 63% of men’s in 1956.
Even though the Equal Pay act had been passed at this point, this suggests that although the EPA was symbolically very significant, in reality it had little impact on women’s economic rights.
