Women's rights in 20th century America

By charliehoulden
  • Period: to

    married women in work - study

    63% of cities dismissed female teachers once they got married
    75% of 1500 surveyed cities didn't hire married women in any profession

  • Hattie Caraway - first woman elected into senate

  • Amelia Earhart - first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic

  • Frances Perkins - first woman to hold a job in the Presidential Cabinet

  • Margert Sanger helps bring birth control case up

    'united states vs One Package' case to the US Circuit Court of Appeals

  • Marian Anderson becomes first African-American to perform at the White House

    under order of Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Period: to

    WWII military

    350,000 women serving in military
    not in direct combat but as nurses, marines etc for WWII

  • 150,000 women serving in Women's Army Corps

  • 18 million women were in work

    due to WWII

  • 4 million women fired from their jobs

    to make room for returning men

  • Women's Armed Forces Integration Act

    passed by congress. authorised women to enlist in military alongside men (rather than in separate units) however they were not allowed to serve in combat
  • Period: to

    labour force participation rate

    for women aged 20+ - nearly doubled in this time (32% to 61%)

  • first six enlisted women sworn into US Navy

    Kay Langdon, Wilma Marchal, Edna Young, Frances Devaney, Doris Robertson. and Ruth Flora

  • first african-american women to enlist in marine corps

  • Period: to

    Korean War

    many servicewomen who had joined reserves in WWII were called up and taken seriously
  • Period: to

    women in work

    46% of women in work but 75% of them working clerical jobs. Average woman earning 60% of average working men's salary

  • Playboy magazine founded by Hefner in Chicago

  • Marilyn Monroe's nudes posted

    Playboy magazine used Monroe's nude without her consent, article was titled 'sweetheart of the month'. photographer (who paid her $50 to take them) sold them to Hefner without her consent.

  • Daughters of Bilitis founded

    first lesbian organisation (founded by 4 lesbian couples)

  • Rosa Parks

    arrested for refusing to get off the bus

  • only 38% of women going to college

    wsa 47% in 1920

  • Birth Control pill approved

  • Period: to

    'Decade of Change for Women'

    1 in 5 women with children under 6 and 1 In 4 women with children over 16 held paid jobs
    conservative republicans started to recruit some female candidates

  • President's Commission on the Status of Women

    established by Kennedy

  • Equal Pay Act

    introduced by Kennedy - de jure change

  • Gloria Steinem published 'When i was a playboy bunny'

    article that showed sexist treatment of women in playboy

  • Sarah Hughes became first female to administrate the Presidential Oath of Office

    to LBJ

  • birth control becomes legal for married couples

  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

    7000 military women served, mainly as nurses

  • protest Miss America Pageant in Atlanta City

    led by Robin Morgan. 100 women involved. Tossed playboy magazines, heels, corsets and girdles into a freedom trash can

  • california introduced nation's first no-fault divorce law

    2010 - all 50 states had introduced this. NY was the last

  • first battered women's shelters created

  • Period: to

    campaigning for womens rights in court begins

    when accusing a man of rape, a woman had to provide a witness to testify (other than herself). in the trial, a women's sexual history could be brought up but a man's could not.
    IS THIS STILL THE CASE???????

  • Ms. Magazine publishing began

    nations first feminist magazine

  • birth control becomes legal for unmarried couples

  • Equal Employment Opportunity Act

  • defeat of ERA

    passed House of representative and senate
    not ratified by states before deadline - never became law

  • abortion legalised

  • 'Battle of the sexes' tennis match

    Billy Jean King (woman) defeated Bobby Riggs in Houston, Texas. Riggs was opposed to feminism - 'if a woman wants to get in the headlines, she should have quintuplets'. 50million watched match

  • supreme court rules it illegal to exclude women from jury pool

  • marital rape becomes illegal in south dekota

    first state to introduce this. 1993, illegal in all 50 states

  • Pregnancy Discrimination Act

    employment discrimination due to pregnancy or child birth is illegal

  • Sally Ride became first female American astronaut

  • Geraldine Ferraro nominated for VP

    first woman to be nominated for Vice President by major party (democrats). not elected

  • Kathryn D. Sullivan walks in space

    first woman to do so

  • Congress declares March as National Woman's History Month

  • Wilma Mankiller elected as leader of Native American tribe

    first woman to be

  • Tailhook Scandal

    more than 26 woman (14 of them officers) sexually harassed by naval and marine officers

  • Anita Hill accuses Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment

    he is still voted in a an associate justice of the supreme court

  • 'Year of the Woman'

    more women then ever before elected into office (19/46 House seats and 3/7 senate seats) including first black female senator, Carol Mosely Braun