Women Gilded Age Flashcards
Positive view
Economic diversification of the Gilded Age offered positive opportunities for women, particularly in certain industries and clerical work. Unmarried women in particular benefitted, and although Separate Spheres was the ideal, evidence shows many women did not conform to this
Wyoming
Wyoming granted women the vote in 1869, Utah in 1870
Prohibition
Prohibition and WCTU of 1874 gave women a foothold in political and public life
Membership was at 169,000 by 1880s
Frances Willard was able to exert political pressure via lobbying
Populist party
Influence growing - many female activists involved e.g. Elizabeth Lease
Supreme Court advance
In 1879, through special Congressional legislation, Belva Lockwood became the first woman admitted to try a case before the Supreme Court
Increased property control
By 1900, every state had passed legislation modeled after New York’s Married Women’s Property Act of 1848
Granted married women some control over their property and earnings
Female unionism increasing
‘Mother Jones’, a female unionist who struggled for mine workers resulted in female union membership increasing markedly
In 1881, the KOL offered support to women workers
Union membership was at 50,000 by mid 1880s
Increased educational opportunities
Radcliffe College Harvard opened in 1879
First training school for nurses was set up in 1873 and by 1890 there were 35
Mixed view
Some women (unmarried) certainly benefitted from more opportunities to enter the work force. However, married, poor and immigrant women suffered from even greater inequality. generally highlights economic progress, hut lack of political, social and reproductive progress.
Limit of temperance campaigns
WCTU was largely viewed as an extension of the woman’s role to protect the home and their duty to serve the family Was made up of predominantly upper/middle class women
Lack of rural progress
Continuity in less rural areas where female activism was more focused on charitable work
Woman in white collar work
By the 1890s, women could work white-collar jobs and earn $7/week doing so
However, there was no career path available to them
Negative view
Gender inequality enshrined in any new opportunities. Progression from household and agricultural economy to separate factories separated the concept of ‘separate spheres. Politics dominated by men, and ongoing women’s campaigns largely ignores
Minor v. Happersett
In 1875, the SC declared that despite the privileges and immunities clause, a state can prohibit a woman from voting
Suffrage divisions
NWSA and AWSA were divided in both their demographics and their aims
This weakened the suffrage movement significantly and continued to jeopardise their efforts until NAWSA where they merged
Susan B Anthony’s failure
Susan B Anthony and 150 other women attempted to test the 14th and 15th Amendments in 1871 by attempting to vote
They were arrested and trialed for elective malpractice
Immigration
Large levels of immigration lowered wages considerably which in turn saw the development of a wage gap
Gender pay gap
A 1890 Bureau of Labour study of 800 men and women showed a gender pay gap of 57%
Even larger in southern factories
Limits of unionism
Unions often did not champion the role of women
AFL in particular
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment at the workplace was rife
15 year old Fanny Hyde killed her boss over this
Limited access to higher education
By the turn of the century, only 4% of women gained access in the state of South Carolina
Lack of rights for marginal female groups
As young white women left the factory floor, their places in the factories were increasingly taken by young immigrant women - European, Hispanic and some African American women whose experience of work was very different
As cheap, unskilled workers, unprotected by legislation, their working conditions were poor, their hours long, and their wages low
By the end of the nineteenth century, immigrant factory workers had to work, on average, 70 hours to earn just $5
Issues of mechanisation of farming
The mechanisation of farming at the end of the nineteenth century not only reduced the need for a large workforce but ensured that farm work became a male preserve as the new technology was unsuitable for female operatives
Bad conditions for poor women
Working class married women, in need of money to augment the family income, were frequently exploited by devious entrepreneurs who bought old tenement buildings and obliged their home workers to live there No right in law protecting women in the workplace
Decreasing birth rates
Decrease in average birth rates from 5.42 in 1850 to 3.56 in 1900
This was largely caused by middle class families who practiced some form of birth control to ensure the reduction in family size
Immigrant families still remained large (6-8 children)
Co-ed colleges
By 1870, 30% of colleges were co-educational
High school graduation progress
By 1900, half of high school graduates were women
Hull House
Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago in 1889 as a social centre to support the settlement of newly arrived immigrant families
NCL
In 1899, Addams set up the National Consumers’ League (NCL), which successfully exerted pressure for the improvement of the wages of female sales clerk and the implementation of protective legislation for women and children in the workplace
NACW
The National Association of Colored Women (NACW) was formed in 1896, and had 50,000 members by 1916
Unlike white women, black women suffered racial prejudice as wekk as gender discrimination, and as such any concern with social issues was dominated by campaigns for the acquisition of civil rights
Successful strike
The Collar Laundry of Troy
successfully struck for higher wages in the 1860s.
Legal protection
Although lacked regulations in general, by 1900 36% states had protection over women’s working hours.
