Thursday February 28th, 2013

1. Thursday February 28th, 2013 • PDN: Reading Check pgs. 197, 199. • Topic: Women's Struggle for Equality • Objective: Understanding women's struggle for equality and identifying the amendment that assured Women's Suffrage. • Assessments: worksheet and stuff. • 5.1.9C Analyze the principles and ideals that shape United States government (equality). • R11.A.2.1 Identify and explain main ideas and relevant details.

2. Agenda: • PDN • PowerPoint on Women's Rights • Worksheet on Affirmative Action • Stuff

3. A. Women and the Right to Vote 1. Traditional Ideas About Women a. Women belonged in the home, caring for family. Believed that women couldn't handle the jobs that men did. b. With the industrial revolution of the 1800s many women took factory jobs, laws treated them different from men. Other laws allowed them to do only low paying jobs.

4. c. People who held these traditional views disapproved of women voting or holding political office. i. Argued that politically active women would leave their family responsibility behind and it would upset family life stability. ii. They also believed women were less intelligent than men and less able to make political decisions. 19th Century take on Women

5. B. Challenging the Traditional View 1. By the late 1800s, people's views towards women began to change. 2. More women took jobs and many women also became active in social and political issues. a. Soon, women began to insist on the right to vote. b. Seneca Falls: women's rights convention 1848. i. "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal."

6. B. continued 3. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, supporters of women's suffrage gained the public attention (Suffragists). a. They marched, gave speeches, wrote to government officials and newspapers, and even went on hunger strikes. b. A proposed amendment giving suffrage to women was introduced, but failed to pass, in almost every session of Congress for 40 years from 1878 to 1918.

7. C. Nineteenth Amendment 1. In 1917, New York gave women the right to vote. 2. 1918, President Woodrow Wilson, who previously opposed suffrage, changed his position to support an amendment. 3. Tide began to turn, suffragists' determination paid off. a. House approved, then Senate approved a women's suffrage amendment. b. 19th Amendment was ratified by the states in 1920. i. Women were now part of "we the people."

8. D. Women and Equality 1. Court also applied Equal Protection principle to the issue of whether companies may treat male employees differently from female employees. a. Different rules for men and women? b. could companies hire only men for specific positions? c. Following court case addresses the question.

9. 2. Ida Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation a. Ida Phillips applied for a position with the Martin Marietta Corporation in Florida. b. Part of the corporation's screening process was to find out whether female applicants had young children. i. In the corporations view, young children take up a large part of women's time and energy. ii. They felt that this would interfere with work performance.

10. 2. Continued c. Women such as Ida Phillips, who had two preschoolers, were denied jobs for that reason. i. She took the corporation to Court. ii. Argued that she had not been treated equally. iii. Charged the corporation with discrimination against women because male applicants were not questioned about their children. d. Court ruled in favor of Ida Phillips, declaring a company may not have "one hiring policy for women and another for men."

11. E. Equality and Affirmative Action 1. Congress passes Civil Rights laws to guard against racial discrimination. a. Laws could not undo effects of years of discrimination against African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans.

12. E. continued 2. Affirmative Action i. Steps to counteract the effects of past racial discrimination and discrimination against women. ii. Employers and colleges that favored white males had to follow these practices. Some argue that AA leads to discrimination against white male applicants. iii. Court took another look at the meaning of "Equal Protection."

13. 3. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 1978 a. Allan Bakke was a white applicant rejected for admission to UC Davis. b. Some members of other racial and ethnic groups were admitted with lower grade-point averages, test scores, and interview ratings. c. Bakke took the university to Court, arguing he was a victim of reverse discrimination.

14. c. Continued i. Supreme Court was divided but agreed with Bakke. ii. Under Equal Protection principle, it was unconstitutional for an admissions program to discriminate against whites only because of their race. However, race could be a factor in acceptance if the school is trying to create a diverse environment.

15. F. Youth and the Right to Vote 1. 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18. 2. They figured, if they were old enough to fight in war why aren't they old enough to have a say in government. 3. Amendment approved in 1971.