Women - 40s 50s 60s

Question 1

How many more women were working in 1945 than 1940?

Answer 1

5 million

Question 2

How many women joined the armed forces during WWII?

Answer 2

350,000

Question 3

In 1945, what % of women wanted to remain in their jobs?

Answer 3

75%

Question 4

What did WWII allow women to show they were capable of?

Answer 4

They could do jobs outside of the home as well as take care of the home and the children.

Question 5

What was the divorce rate in 1940 and what and what did it rise to in ‘46?

Answer 5

10. 2% in ‘40

18. 2% in ‘46

Question 6

What shift was there in jobs in the 40s which meant more opportunities for women?

Answer 6

Lots of jobs in the service industry. Many of these also available to AA women and migrant women.

Question 7

Why was there stagnation for women in the 1940s?

Answer 7

• The idea of separate spheres not eradicated
• Dr Benjamin Spock published the Common Sense Book of Baby and Childcare.
• Signs of instability in a family blamed on the women for trying to be a wife, mother and employee

Question 8

What did the Lanham Act mean for women?

Answer 8

Day care centres for working mothers in the armaments industry, especially as women worked more through the war.
Gradually withdrawn ‘42 to ‘46.

Question 9

What did the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act mean for women?

Answer 9

1944. Men coming back from war given higher education opportunities they wouldn’t have normally had meaning they got better jobs. Women replaced w/ men coming back from the war. In the 8 weeks after peace, 800,000 women lost their jobs.

Question 10

Why was there stagnation in womens rights in the 1950s?

Answer 10

• Cult of domesticity - idealisation of housewives
• No major steps forward
• Magazines elevated idea of ideal American family and portrayed domesticity as ultimate and most rewarding role for American women - beauty, cooking, gardening and home common themes
• Young middle-class girls went to college to find husbands

Question 11

What regression was there in the 1950s in womens rights?

Answer 11

• Entrenched separate spheres

- Economic boom - family could live off one wage, women didn’t need to work and were pushed out jobs

Question 12

What % of clerical work was done by women in 1945?

Answer 12

70%

However, it was still a traditional womens role.

Question 13

When was the Report on American Women and what did it mean?

Answer 13

1963
Revealed gender inequality, and together w/ the movement towards reform by Kennedy and Johnson led to a revival of organised protest by women and the feminist movement.

Question 14

What book was written by Betty Friedan and when?

Answer 14

The Feminine Mystique 1963.

Sold over a million copies.

Question 15

How many more women were working in 1960 than in 1940?

Answer 15

2x

Question 16

What happened in terms of industry in the 60s?

Answer 16

The service industry overtook manufacturers - typewriters etc. Lots of these jobs went to women.

Question 17

When was the Equal Pay Act and why was it not successful in closing the gender pay gap?

Answer 17

1963
Employers gave women different job titles meaning they could pay them less than men.
E.g. Secretary v. office manager

Question 18

When was the CRA?

Answer 18

1964

Question 19

Why was there stagnation for women in the 1960s?

Answer 19

• Low prestige jobs and no equal pay in reality
• Continuation of domestic responsibility
• Merging of responsibilities not seen in lower class families

Question 20

Why was there regression in womens civil rights in the 60s?

Answer 20

• Uncertain days of cold war led to Americans marrying young and having more children
• ERA not passed
• Women seen as being masculine = unnatural
• Court cases still needed for women to get into school sometimes

Question 21

How many women in Congress by 1969?

Answer 21

11