Resources

http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1988-9/moran.htm

http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffragettes1/suffragettes.html

https://sites.google.com/site/genderrolesofthe1930s/

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/03/12/the-1960s-a-decade-of-change-for-women

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_lib.html

http://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women

https://sites.google.com/a/lakewoodcityschools.org/womensrights_1960/home/woman-in-the-workforce

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/events/womenslliberation/womensliberation.htm

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=499

http://www.ehow.com

http://www.dictionary.reference.com
http://www.ask.com

The Suffragettes 2

Suffragette - a woman advocate of female suffrage.
The Suffragettes wanted the right for women to vote.
Suffragettes were members of women's organization movements in the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States. Suffragist is a more general term for members of suffrage movements, whether basic or conservative, male or female.The term "suffragette" is particularly linked with activists in the British women's suffrage movement in the early 20th century, whose demonstrations included chaining themselves to railings and setting fire to mailbox contents. One woman, Emily Davison, died at the Epsom Derby. It is unsure what she was trying to achieve when she was run down by the King's horse. Many suffragettes were imprisoned in Holloway Prison in London, and were force-fed after going on hunger strike.In the United States, women over 21 were first allowed to vote in the territories of Wyoming from 1869 and in Utah from 1870, and with the sanction of the Nineteenth Amendment the suffrage was stretched to women across the United States in time for the 1920 presidential election. Women over 21 were allowed to vote in New Zealand from 1893, in Australia from 1894, and in Canada from 1919. Women in the UK were given the vote in 1918 if over 30 and meeting certain property conditions, and in 1928 suffrage was stretched to all women over the age of 21.

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Women's Main Roles in the 1930s

The 1930s were dominated by one of America’s greatest economic crises and during this time millions of Americans suffered. Unemployment was plenteous, seniors lost their life savings when banks collapsed, schools shut down and children went uneducated. During this time, women's roles were mostly as homemaker and in the workplace remained traditional.

Eleanor Roosevelt published a book in 1933 in which she called upon women to use their courage and determination to help their families and, by protraction, the country through this dire economic crisis. Most women in the 1930s were married and during this time the woman's role as the center of the family became even more consequential. The Great Depression served to reinforce the traditional gender roles with women as homemakers.

Women in the 1930s came up with notable ways to keep their families afloat during this time. They helped their families get by on less and maximized every opportunity to save money. For example, they bought yesterday's bread, which was cheaper and used old fabric or blankets to line old coats. Women cut up adult clothing to fit their children and came up with a myriad of similar ideas to save money.

In the 1930s, the role of women in the workplace did not change very much. In 1930, about 11 million women were employed; and by 1940, 13 million women were employed. This is not considered a consequential increase. Women's wages were lower than men's and most women worked in domestic service. Seventy-five percent of professional women were either nurses or schoolteachers, which remain traditional roles for women.

Women of the 1960's: On Birth Control

Many other things were changing in the 1960's especially in the homes. Women were not having as many children as before because they were using birth control pills. This allowed women to have a more carefree life and gave them ability to make more choices.

The first pill used for contraceptive use was approved for use in 1960 by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug was a huge success and had 1.2 million users by 1962 and almost double that the next year. The Catholic Church was supportive of this pill yet it was still illegal in eight states.

These birth control pills allowed women to pursue education for a degree so they could get a higher paying job than most other women could get. The creators of the pill Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick gathered a group of scientists and physicians to help make this pill. They made the pill so women would not always have to be burdened with staying home and doing chores or having low paying jobs. Ever since the movements of female equality have started men and women have reached the point today where gender doesn't matter for pay.

Women in the Workplace

The 1960's were a time that was constantly changing for women. More women were entering the paid workforce but they were suffering from lower pay than men, sexual harrassment, and not being promoted due to gender. All of this was occuring in the work place. Women were paid 60 percent of what men made yet the equal pay legislation was passed in 1963.

Before this women were expected to be married by her twenties, have a family, and devote her life to working around the house. A wife back in before the changing times would spend an average 55 hours at home taking care of the children, doing the laundry, cooking, and taking care of their husbands when they came home. Now women could go to work like men so they didn't get married as fast and didn't have children as fast.

The main goals of the feminists of the 1960's were ending sexual harrassment, ending domestic violence, equal pay for equal work, sharing responsibilities around the house, and trying to break the boundary that prevented women from getting manigerial postitions. The feminists were a group of people that stood for these things because they worked at the same time as the baby boom. They demanded maternity leave and child care because of their large families.


 

Women in the Workplace: The Great Depression

Though their primary role was as homemakers and mothers, there were working women in the 1930s (mostly single mothers, but, they were uncommon and widows who had to work to keep their family off of the streets.) However, no matter their situation, working women were frowned upon for "taking jobs away from hard working men." A woman in the workplace qualified only for low-paying factory jobs (a woman with a  full education had the same job opportunities then as a man who had only made it through elementary school), and even then, made half as much as her male counterparts for doing those jobs. Even after working, though, a woman was still expected to do her "duties"--- cook, and clean, and care for the household.

There were small wins for women in politics at the time, though; with the 19th amendment (which gave women the right to vote), brought the first female member of Congress, Sandra Day O'Conellin 1932, and the first female member of the Presidential Cabniet, Francis Perkins, in 1938.

The victories were just that, though: small. In the 1930s, there were over 1,000 state laws discriminating against women. In eleven states, if a woman was working, her wages were controlled by her husband. "Protective" laws were made that ostensibly helped women, but, in actuallity not only questioned a woman's ability and right to be in the workplace, but made it harder for women to get jobs.

It wasn't just men that didn't seem to like womankind's progress; other women were against it too. Mrs. Samuel Gompers said: "A home, no matter how small, is large enough to occupy [a wife's] mind and time." She, along with many other women, called women working outside the home "unnatural", and The Women's Bureau went so far as to say that wives who held jobs outside the home were "ruining the integrity of their families". Even the new American Federation of Labor did not include women.

The Women's Liberation Movement in the 1960's

The Women's Liberation Movement also known as The Feminist Movement and it has been going on for one-hundred years. In the 1960's it was a time of change. The people became more vocal and they strived for more equality among all the people. The Food and Drug Administration was the first oral contraceptive for women. It was then available to women the following year. With this became the first step in the liberation movement. With this it now allowed women to take a stand on their reproductive rights.

In 1961, President Kennedy had established the Commission on the Status of Women to examine issues that were related to women and to make proposals on the such topics as employment, Social Security, education, and tax laws. At around this time, there began a growing interest in women's rights. The courts were also being found that discriminatory actions that had dealt with the reproductive rights of women. The commission did find that discriminatory actions were being taken up against women.
 
In 1963, the Federal Government had amended the Equal Rights Act. This was to ensure that any sex- based wage discrimination between men and women in the same work establishment was to be prohibited. The following year, President Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of the 1964. This was to protect women from discrimination being used in the work environment.

In 1965, there was appointed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioners (EEOC) to enforce the Civil Rights Act. That was however was not the case. Women were not being treated fairly in any work environment, and that the EEOC was unable to enforce the Civil Rights Act. So, in June of 1966, while Betty Friedan and twenty-eight women attended the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C, they founded the National Organization for Women (NOW). The purpose of this organization was "to take action to bring women into full participation in the Mainstream of American Society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in the true equal partnership with men".

As the year's progressed, NOW's membership began to grow. By the time the organization was incorporated in 1967, the membership numbers were at 1037. As the membership grew, so did the demonstrations, rallies, petitions and such that were designed to facilitate the spread the information on the purpose of the group. They boycotted the 1968 Miss America Beauty Contest in Atlantic City to let it be know that women's worth wasn't all about their appearance. NOW was readily involved in multiple law suits against companies that had violated a women's right for equal opportunity employment.