American Women’s History Review. I. Colonial Period (1492-1776) Colonial Women –Far more women in New England during the 17 th century than in the Chesapeake.

American Women’s History Review

I. Colonial Period (1492-1776)

• Colonial Women– Far more women in New England during the

17th century than in the Chesapeake– Puritan women were literate, but otherwise

confined to traditional roles, as were women in other colonies

• Quaker women as exceptions

I. Colonial Period (1492-1776)

• Colonial Women– What about intermarriage between colonists

and natives?• New Spain/New France vs. English Colonies?

II. The American Revolution and Early Republic (1776-1820)

• Female participation in the Revolution– Economic: Non-importation/consumption, also

maintained the economy in the absence of men

– Political: Abigail Adams’ “Remember the Ladies”

– Military: Deborah Sampson and Molly Pitcher (exceptional)

II. The American Revolution and Early Republic (1776-1820)

• The Revolution’s impact on women– Republican Motherhood: women can act as

citizens, but only through the education of their sons.

– Much remains unchanged• Coverture

III. Antebellum America

• The Market Revolution– The behavior of middle class women is

increasingly restricted by “separate spheres”- why?

– Child birth is limited, rise of contraception – Limited to domestic service and (by the late

1830s and 1840s) teaching – Educational opportunities severely limited,

except in a few cases

III. Antebellum America

• Women Reformers– Women participated in the antebellum reform

movement as domestic reformers in the public sphere (huh?)

– Dorothea Dix and mental health/prison reform– Temperance movement- why? – Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and

women’s suffrage• Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

– Declaration of Sentiments

• Married Women’s Property Act (1848)

III. Antebellum America

• Women’s Rights– By the 1840s, participation in reforms leads to

a new reform movement – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony

and Lucretia Mott strive for women’s suffrage• Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

– Declaration of Sentiments

– Chipping away at Coverture • Married Women’s Property Act (1848)

III. Antebellum America

• Women and the Crisis of the Union in the 1850s– The Grimke Sisters and abolitionism (An

Appeal to the Christian Women of the South)– Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom’s

Cabin– Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth

The Civil War (1861-1865)

• Somewhat new roles for women– Filled the places of men while they were

fighting (again)– However, nursing became a profession open

to women because of the war

IV. Gilded Age through the Progressive Era (1865-1920)

• Suffrage Movement and Temperance Movement Continues– Wyoming grants suffrage (1869)– Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting (1872)– National Women’s Suffrage Association

(Anthony and Stanton)– WCTU founded, led by Frances Willard (1874)

• Carrie Nation and “Hatchenations”

IV. Gilded Age through the Progressive Era (1865-1920)

• Suffrage Split– NAWSA (Carrie Chapman Catt) vs. NWP

(Alice Paul)

V. World War I and the Twenties (1900-1929)

• Women and labor– Mueller v. Oregon (1908)– Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Factory (1911)

• Women and WWI– Women temporarily fill the jobs of men (again)

(1917-1918)

V. World War I, Roaring Twenties (1900-1929)

• Victory and Apathy– 19th Amendment passed in 1920!– Flapper culture a step forward or backward for

women?

VI. The Great Depression and World War II (1930-1945)

• Women’s changing role– Women as breadwinners (and reactions to

that)– Eleanor Roosevelt as national figure, uses

influence to ease plight of workers (usually behind the scenes)

– Frances Perkins and Social Security • First female cabinet member, influential in passing

the Fair Labor Standards Act

VI. The Great Depression and World War II (1930-1945)

• WWII– Women temporarily fill men’s jobs (yep, again)– WACS and WAVES

VII. Cold War to the Present (1945-

• Domesticity, both imagined and real– Great deal of pressure to stay home if

possible (Baby Child Care by Dr. Spock)– However, in practice a minority of families

could afford this– Women worked only in certain occupations

and for little pay

VII. Cold War to the Present (1945-

• Second Wave Feminism– The Feminine Mystique (1963)– N.O.W. (1966)

• Worked for ERA but failed, succeeded with Title IX in 1972

– Women’s Liberation (Redstockings, 1969) – Sexual Revolution (1957-ish) – Roe v. Wade (1974)– Reaction: Phyllis Schlafly and the “Positive

Women” (complementarity, anti-ERA) (1972)

Women Today

• Women on average earn 79.9 % of men’s income (US Census Bureau, 2009)

• “Eight graduates of women’s colleges and three graduates of former women’s colleges are among Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in 2009”