REVIEW: WOMEN
1565,1607 - 1763: SETTLEMENT AND COLONIAL
AMERICA
Most married early and had many children. Married women
were deprived
of most legal rights. Most women were limited to domestic roles
but some
became active in farming, crafts, business, and education. Anne
Hutchinson
became a religious leader.
1763 - 1783: REVOLUTIONARY
PERIOD
Women did not benefit from the ideals of the Revolution.
Abigail
Adams challenged the lack of female equality. During
the War some wives
followed troops into battle and were occasionally involved
in combat.
(Molly Pitcher) Many wives assumed new occupations and
responsibilities
while the men were off at war.
1781 -
1789: GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
1789 -
1824: THE NEW NATION
Between 1790 and 1860 some women began to
seek jobs outside the home.
This was made possible because of the work
available in the new mills,
particularly in the textile industry. For
most women such work was an
interim activity prior to marriage.
The
Second Great Awakening (1800-1840's) prompted many women to
become
involved in the movement as well as in various benevolence
societies. Ann
Lee founded the Shakers. Dorothea Dix fought for
reform in
prisons and mental institutions.
Women on the frontier were often able
to command high wages for
cooking, laundering, and sewing. Some ran boarding
houses and hotels.
1825 - 1849: AGE OF
JACKSON
Gender roles remained traditional with women maintaining
the family
and household. The Cult of Domesticity, based on the
concept of the refinement and purity of women, idealized women and restricted
them. Large
families were common although the birth rate was declining.
Divorce was
rare. Women received less education than men. Middle class women
engaged
in charitable work. Many became involved in the Temperance Movement.
Women did not have the right to vote and were denied nearly all legal
rights.
Seneca Falls (NY) Convention (1848): Called by
Lucretia Mott and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Issued a "Women's
Declaration of Independence"
which included a list of grievances.
Susan
B. Anthony and Lucy Stone became advocates of women's
rights.
Margaret Fuller was a leading writer and critic in Boston.
Elizabeth Blackwell became a doctor in 1849 and established a clinic
for
poor women and children. Sojourner Truth, a freed slave, was a
leading
abolitionist and activist for women's rights. Sarah and Angelina
Grimke went on speaking tours attacking slavery.
Page 2
1849 - 1877: SECTIONALISM, CIVIL WAR,
RECONSTRUCTION
Women were an integral part of the war effort.
Many worked in the fields and factories replacing men who were off fighting.
Dorothea Dix
was Superintendent of Nurses. Clara Barton
recruited women for hospital work. She would later found the American Red Cross.
After the Civil War many northern women went to the South as teachers for
the Freedmen's Bureau.
1877 - 1901: BIG BUSINESS, INDUSTRY, LABOR,
FARMERS, REFORM
The National and American Women's Suffrage
Association was formed in 1890. The National Association of Colored Women was
founded in 1895.
1901 - 1913: PROGRESSIVE
ERA
Suffragettes continued to push for the right to vote.
Women's Clubs were formed to discuss safety and welfare issues.
1913 - 1921: WILSON AND WORLD WAR I
Women filled
vacancies in the labor force during the war but were expected to give up their
jobs when the men returned. Women made clothing, rolled bandages, served at Red
Cross facilities.
Carrie Chapman Catt became the head of NAWSA in
1915. She led the movement for a federal suffrage amendment.
19th.Amendment ratified 1920.
1921 - 1939: BOOM AND BUST AND
A NEW DEAL
The flapper was the image of the New Woman but
most middle class women remained at home as housewives and mothers.
The YWCA
expanded. The League of Women Voters was founded. The Equal Rights Amendment was
first introduced into Congress in 1923. The short-lived Sheppard-Towner Act
(1921) provided federal funds to states to establish prenatal and child health
care programs. Margaret Sanger led
the national birth control
movement.
During the Depression many believed that working women deprived men
of jobs. Eleanor Roosevelt supported women's issues. Francis
Perkins became the first woman Cabinet member when she was appointed
Secretary of Labor in 1933. Some New Deal legislation discriminated against
women.
1939 - 1945: WORLD WAR II
Six million women
entered the work force during the war. Many took on jobs in heavy industry,
hence "Rosy the Riveter." Pay equity with men still did not exist.
Nevertheless, many women did not want to give up these jobs when the war was
over.
Page 3
1945 - 1989+: COLD WAR AND AFTER
The 1950's Age
of Consensus promoted woman's place in the home.
The "New
Feminism" was born out of Betty Friedan's The
Feminine
Mystique, new attention to gender discrimination in
education and employment, and women's experiences in the civil rights movement,
the antiwar movement, and the New Left.
The Equal Pay Act
(1963) prohibited paying women less than men for equal work. The National
Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in
1966 by Betty Friedan
and other feminists. It advocated economic and legal equality for women.
The
Equal Rights Amendment was approved in 1972 but was never ratified by the
required 3/4 of the states in spite of a three-year extension. The Amendment
died.
Roe v. Wade led the way in the legalization of abortion. It was
based on the Constitutional right to privacy.
Two-career families became the
norm in the 1970's. More women were seen in colleges, the professions, and the
political arena. Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the
Supreme Court. Geraldine Ferraro was a Democratic candidate for the
vice-presidency in 1984. Sally Ride was the first American woman
astronaut in space in 1983.