Women’s Issues:



Women’s Issues:

• Colonial Era:

o 17th-century New England: women tended to arrive with their families; close-knit society

o 17th-century South: relatively few women early on; most immigrants were white male indentured servants

o In general, women in the colonial era were seen as morally weaker and more prone to temptation than men; this echoed the status of women in European society

• 18th century:

o Women played an important role during the American Revolution as they ran the farms and businesses while husbands were fighting; a few even served in the military

o Molly Pitcher – aided soldiers at Valley Forge

o Daughters of Liberty

o Abigail Adams admonished her husband, John Adams, to provide increased rights for women after the war

o However, women did not enjoy increased rights after the revolution

o feme covert: women could not own property in marriage or sue or be sued in court

o Ideal of “Republican Motherhood” took hold: women now seen as morally superior and should raise virtuous citizens for the republic.

• Antebellum society:

o Women were legally subject to their husbands

o Husbands could beat their wives.

o Feme covert: women could not own property or sue or be sued in court

o Lack of suffrage

o Traditional views of women's role: "Republican Motherhood"; "cult of domesticity": piety, purity, Domesticity and submissiveness; (Catharine Beecher), Godey's Lady's Book

o Lowell Girls – Lowell Factory

o Reform Movement – Dorothea Dix

o Oberlin College – 1st Co-educational college in the U.S.

o Temperance

o Oneida community – NY 1840s – woman has an “absolute right to determine when she will and will not be exposed to pregnancy”

o Catharine Beecher – Hartford Female Seminary – support of women in education

o Support of the abolition movement

-Sojouner Truth – “Ar’n’t I a woman

-Harriet Tubman – Underground Railroad

-Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Women’s Rights movement begins:

o Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

- Declaration of Sentiments

o Elizabeth Cady Stanton

o Lucretia Mott

o Susan B. Anthony

o Lucy Stone

o Amelia Bloomer

o Sarah Grimke

• Women’s rights movement was overshadowed by the slavery issue

• Results

o Increase in women admitted to colleges

o Some states began allowing women to own property after marriage (end to feme covert)

o Mississippi was the first state to do so in 1839

• Late 19th century

o National Women’s Suffrage Association: Stanton and Anthony (no men)

o American Women’s Suffrage Association: Lucy Stone (allowed men

o Merger of two organizations = National American Women’s Suffrage Association

o Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led by Francis Willard was most important

o Wyoming vote - 1869

• 20th century

o Carrie Chapman Catt’s “Winning Plan”

o Alice Paul – militant tactics – ERA

o 19th Amendment (1920) – impact of WWI

o Margaret Sanger, birth control – American Birth Control League

o Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique, 1963

o National Organization for Women, 1966

o Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), failure to ratify, Phyllis Schlafly

o Title IX

o Increased access to job opportunities and the military

o Roe v. Wade, 1973

o Sandra Day O’Conner appointed to the supreme court - 1973

o Sally Ride first American woman in space

Changes for women in the work place:

Throughout 19th century and first half of 20th century, work was considered inappropriate for middleclass women.

Exceptions: Women worked in WWI; “Rosie the Riveter” in WWII – 258,000 served in military

After WWII: women expected to go back home – many stayed in the workplace

Reemergence of cult of domesticity in the 1950s—some women began demand for opportunities in the workplace.

Women’s Rights Movement exploded in 1960s: Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique

ERA passed in early 1970s but not ratified ¾ of states by 1982.

Percentage of women in the workplace continues to rise until the present

Sexuality

“Republican Motherhood”

“Cult of Domesticity” or “Cult of True Womanhood”

Comstock Law, 1873 – the “New Morality”

Automobile

1920s --Flappers

1910s & 1920s: Birth control, Margaret Sanger

1960s: the “pill” starts sexual revolution

AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download