women

• before the war women were struggling to gain the right to vote

  the war gave women a chance to work but they were fired when the men returned home
• in the roaring twenties there was an economic boom
• flappers cut their hair short and wore revealing dresses, smoked and drank in public
• the great depression affected people across all classes so women had to take any job they could but women with families struggled to raise their children as they had to work
• after the second world war, women were urged to join the workforce again. In 1941 only 16% of women worked due to childcare issues but when they were resolved it rose to 23% in 1945
• Kennedy was influenced by his wife who was an advocate for womens rights
• betty friedan wrote the feminine mystique which was controversial so lots of people read it and it spurred women on to fight for their rights.
• one reason why feminism didn't work fully was because there were radicals who claimed all men were the enemy, there were also conservatives who believed in traditional roles, there was objection to the calls for free contraception
• Some states allowed some abortions and contraception was allowed for all women married or not
• in 1972 the equal rights act was finally passed as an amendment. All it needed was ratification by 38 of 50 states in 10 years but by 1982, 15 states were still reducing so it wasn't passed so women still discriminated in the workplace
• in the 30s and 40s America made improvements in their technology which allowed women to have more free time. some examples of labour saving devices are vacuum cleaners, dryers and washing machines. with their free time women had more freedoms
• 1930s and 40s FDR had the first female cabinet member, Frances Perkins
• in 1920 women gained the constitutional right to vote- the 19th amendment, women who weren't white or were poor rarely voted or they voted the way their husbands told them too
• 1920s Womens Bureau of Labour was set up to improve conditions women were paid less than men
• flappers shifted the public's perception of women many adopted a more traditional role when they married
• A 1932 Women's Bureau of Labour report found that 97% of meat packaging women were the only wage earner in the family or boosting the husbands wage
• after world war two black women could train for nurse roles because of the lack of workers
• 1963 equal pay act came into law, a 1963 report showed that from age of 3 women were encouraged out of a career. then the 1964 act came into power however the women and non-white Americans noticed there wasn't much enforcement of it
• Abortion was federally legalised on 22 January 1973, by a Supreme Court rulings which improved employment
• congress had failed to listen to women and better enforce the equal pay act