Women movements during history

All started in 1776 when women wanted to take actions in order to have rights.

<<When the abolition of the international slave trade began to threaten the expansion of the young cotton-growing industry, the slaveholding class was forced to rely on natural reproduction as the surest method of replenishing and increasing the domestic slave population. Thus a premium was placed on the slave woman's reproductive capacity.

During the decades preceding the Civil War, Black women came to be increasingly appraised for their fertility (or for the lack of it): she who was potentially the mother of ten, twelve, fourteen or more became a coveted treasure indeed. This did not mean, however, that as mothers, Black women enjoyed a more respected status than they enjoyed as workers. Ideological exaltation of motherhood - as popular as it was during the nineteenth century did not extend to slaves.

In the eyes of the slaveholders, slave women were not mothers at all; they were simply instruments guaranteeing the growth of the slave labor force. They were breeders' animals, whose monetary value could be precisely calculated in terms of their ability to multiply their numbers.

Since slave women were classified as 'breeders’ as opposed to ‘mothers', their infant children could be sold away from them like calves from cows. >>

                                                                                      Angela Y. Davis, ‘Woman, Race&Class’

In 1777 Abigail Adams, a champion of the rights of women, wife of Jon Adams, a lawyer and the future president, had begun the fight for women rights with a letter addressed to her husband in which she asked for help to empower women (she asked ‘please do not forget the ladies’ & he laughed and he denied the request)

In 18th century:

• only men were considered citizens
• married women had no rights to their assets (for example, if a woman had an inherent property, after marriage, her property became the husband’s property and the woman lost the control of it, women couldn’t form contracts, control her own income, transfer or sell property or instigate a lawsuit. )
• women were looked as objects

It took 150 years for humans to gain a legal identity.

American Women’s Suffrage Movement started in 1848 with a meeting of women in Western New York, held by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

In 1848 New York, through Seneca Falls Convention’s manifesto called The Declaration of Sentiments were described women’s grievances and demands. 

In 1848, The Married Women’s Property Act was established and it provided credit opportunity for women.

In 1852, Susan B. Anthony started a political fight involving The Congress and the Supreme Court, for achieving the right for women to vote.

Until 1862, the right to open deposit accounts wasn’t granted to women.

In 1866, the 14th amendment allowed black men to vote, but not women.

After the transition from Agricultural Economy to Industrial Revolution (the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States) jobs foe women were created.

For the first time, in the 19th century women had something new: A PAYCHECK

Jobs for woman should have been a good thing, because they had the right to work, but in fact, it was the opposite: the conditions of the workplace were terrible; women were locked in the rooms they worked without ventilation or toilets. 150 women died because of factory fires, because they could not leave the rooms.

<<When the tentative pre-Civil War forays into factory work gave way to an aggressive embrace of industrialization in the United States, it robbed many white women of the experience of performing productive labor. Their spinning wheels were rendered obsolete by the textile factories. Their candlemaking paraphernalia became museum pieces, like so many of the other tools which had previously assisted them to produce the articles required by their families for survival. As the ideology of femininity- a by-product of industrialization - was popularized and disseminated through the new ladies' magazines and romantic novels, white women came to be seen as inhabitants of a sphere totally severed from the realm of productive work.

 The cleavage between the home and the public economy, brought on by industrial capitalism, established female inferiority more firmly than ever before. ‘Woman’ became synonymous in the prevailing propaganda with 'mother'  and housewife', and both 'mother' and housewife' bore the fatal mark of inferiority. But among Black female slaves, this vocabulary was nowhere to be found. The economic arrangements of slavery contradicted the hierarchical sexual roles incorporated in the new ideology. Male-female relations within the slave community could not, therefore, conform to the dominant ideological pattern.>>

                                                                        Angela Y. Davis, ‘Woman, Race&Class’

WOMEN’S BIG IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY

Women had helped to create EDUCATIONAL&SOCIAL WALFARE INFRASTRUCTURE of America

Women had helped the immigrants to find shelters, food and education.

Jane Adams established in 1889, in Chicago, the first settlement house called ‘HULL HOUSE’ for the needy immigrants 

Because of non-existent jobs for women, even if they were college graduates, women started defined new institutions and accomplished child labour legislation and politicized the process of national reform in laws (outlawing hiring anyone under age 16 + limited hours of labour).

In 1900 The Wyoming Legislature was persuaded to grant women access to vote in local elections.

In 1903, due to Women’s Trade Union League, women were put to work in textile factories, resulting in more inclusion.

In 1912 women lead by Carrie Chapman Catt and Allice Paul advocated militant strategies such as mass marches and hunger strikes to obtain rights for women.

In June 1919, the 19th amendment granted the right to vote for women.

In August 1920, it was allowed by law for women to vote.

Susan B. Anthony was arrested during this time because she voted on an election even women were not allowed to. She died in 1906.

The Great Depression and The World War II were opportunities for women to advance in society, giving them more needed jobs while men were to fight in the war, where the women were not let to be.

In 1930, if a woman was married, she was NOT allowed to work.

In 1938, women remained at a disadvantage if they wanted a credit from a bank, because they were regularly paid less than men for the same job. Even if they wanted to borrow money, they may not have qualified.

During 1940-1945 a 57% increase in women’s workforce was seen.

After WWII ended, men came back homes and replaced the women jobs, knowing that more than 80% of women wanted to continue to work.

In 1950, women’s labour is skyrocketing, because there were 5x women workers than men.

Middle-class lifestyle began with the women’s work during 1950s, because women did not have ‘jobs made only for men’ like doctors, lawyers, teachers, just low-paid jobs.

In 1958, if a woman wanted a credit card, a man would usually have to cosign, even if she earned more than he did and would be paying the bills.

In 1960s, through ‘Civil Rights Movement’, women wanted to end racial discrimination, but they faced sexual discrimination from male leaders.

UNTIL 1964 GENDER DISCRIMINATION WAS LEGAL.

In 1966, through The National Organization of Women, concerns of sex discrimination were being enforced (women were not allowed to eat in certain restaurants, drink in some bars, have careers).

A new era of professional rights started in 1970s.It was seen a 400% increase in application for women to study medicine, law, business management and others that they could not in the past.

In 1973, when Pat Nixon was First Lady, in The House of Representatives were just 12 women. No women in Senate.

Until 1974, even if women managed to get a credit product, the amount they could borrow from a credit card or loan was often smaller than a man would get with the same credit and financial profile.

In 1980, the reproductive rights died and it was a limitation in working in business for women.

In a lot of business, women were not treated as they were equals to males, so some women left and started women-owned business; this was huge for the economy.

In 1990, the women’s rights were moved to a political arena, when Anita Hill accused Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

1992 is considered THE YEAR OF WOMEN, because women started being elected for public offices (Carol Moseley Braun, Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno are some role-models for women)

During 2000-2010 women obtained prohibition on discrimination based on sex, health rights.

A LOT OF CHANGES STILL NEED TO BE DONE!