WOMEN’S RIGHTS

1. WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN US HISTORY

2. In the beginning… “Upon marriage, the husband and wife are one person, and that person is the husband” --William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765 American law was derived from English Common Law coverture: upon marriage, a woman’s legal rights transfer to her husband • Cannot own property • Cannot enter into a contract or sign a document • Cannot work without her husband’s permission, or keep her salary • Cannot obtain an education without her husband’s permission

3. FIRST WAVE FEMINISM Lasts from mid-19th century to the 19th Amendment Concerned with overturning legal—or de jure—obstacles to equality EARLY SUFFRAGETTES Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 • Organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Declaration of Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence • Resolution called for “securing to women an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions and commerce” • Included a call for women’s suffrage

4. Early Suffragettes suffragette: term for a supporter of women’s right to vote LUCRETIA MOTT • tactics: conventions, lobbying, letter-writing, picketing, rallies and parades, publishing pamphlets, attempts to vote, hunger strikes • Lucretia Mott’s Quaker beliefs influenced her abolitionist and suffragette work • Elizabeth Cady Stanton insisted on including women’s suffrage in the Seneca Falls resolution • Susan B. Anthony was the first woman to be arrested and tried for voting (1872) • Amelia Bloomer advocated less restrictive clothing (“bloomers”) • Jane Addams founded Hull House, a settlement house for women SUSAN B. ANTHONY ELIZABETH CADY STANTON

5. Alignment with Abolitionist Movement: • SOJOURNER TRUTH • c. 1797-1883 • abolitionist and women’s rights activist whose famous speech Ain’t I a Woman? dealt with racial inequality Abolitionists and suffragettes had similar aims—both sought rights for minorities AERA (American Equal Rights Association) was formed in 1866 by black activists and women’s rights activists split in 1869 over the Fifteenth Amendment and whether or not to include women’s right to vote NWSA (National Women Suffrage Association) wanted to include women, AWSA (American Women Suffrage Association) thinks it will endanger passage • HARRIET TUBMAN • 1820-1913 • conductor on the Underground Railroad who later fought for women’s suffrage

6. Alignment with Temperance Movement • Anthony and Stanton also founded NY State Women’s Temperance Society • Christian Temperance Union advocated women’s suffrage as a way to further the Christian conservative social agenda • Carrie Nation was a notable Temperance activist who attacked saloons with an Indian hatchet

7. The American West • Women scarce out West, therefore had more power • Kansas put women’s suffrage on the ballot in 1867—it failed • Wyoming was the first territory with women’s suffrage to be admitted as a state (1890) • Colorado approves the vote for women in 1893, followed by Utah, Idaho, California, Washington, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona • WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE LAWS BEFORE PASSING THE 19TH AMENDMENT

8. World War I • Work on women’s suffrage suspended in order to concentrate on the war effort But not everyone agrees… • Alice Paul, founder of National Women’s Party,leads daily marches on the White House during the war • But as soon as the war is over…

9. Nineteenth Amendment “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex” President Wilson signs the Nineteenth Amendment into law surrounded by Women’s Rights Activists • passed June 4, 1919, ratified August 18, 1920 • Passed under leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, President of NAWSA • Harry T. Burn, deciding vote for ratification in the Tennessee House • Jeannette Rankin, first woman to be elected to Congress in 1916

10. INTERBELLUM, WWII, POSTWAR PERIOD The Roaring Twenties: FLAPPER STYLE • Margaret Sanger: birth-control activist who founded Planned Parenthood, opened first birth-control clinic in 1916 • role of alcohol: Prohibition sees increase in female drinking—men and women drink together in speakeasies, putting them on more equal footing • flappers: “new breed” of women, wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, wore makeup, drank alcohol

11. Great Depression and New Deal • Great Depression leads to destruction of the family unit • Women become breadwinners in the family • New Deal provides job opportunities for women • Eleanor Roosevelt as First Lady • Frances Perkins, first woman cabinet member, Labor Secretary under FDR from 1933-1945 FRANCES PERKINS BEHIND FDR

12. World War II • war pushes relationships • rationing = shorter hemlines • Rosie the Riveter—women in the war industry • WAVS/WACs/SPARs: women in the armed services ROSIE THE RIVETER

13. Postwar Period Leave it to Beaver • Time of regression—men come back, government tells women return to the home • access to cars gives women more autonomy • consumer culture pushes idea that women will find fulfillment in the home • June Cleaver ideal of womanhood

14. SECOND WAVE FEMINISM • concerned with overturning unofficial, social—or de facto—obstacles to equality as well as legal obstacles • e.g. sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights • began as a pushback against rigid gender roles of the 1950s • feminism: advocacy of women’s rights based on the grounds of political, social and economic equality with men • JFK calls for Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (1961) • Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963), credited with sparking Second Wave Feminism

15. Reproductive Issues “the pill”: birth control pills (first approved for general use in the 1960) put the control in women’s hands Roe v. Wade (1973) was a landmark decision guaranteeing women’s right to a safe and legal abortion Hyde Amendment is a rider first introduced in 1976 that bans public funding of abortions BIRTH CONTROL PILLS

16. Cultural Issues Women’s Liberation: term coined in the 1960s to refer to the Women’s Rights Movement free love: ambivalent relationship with feminism Miss America Pageant protest (1968): radical feminists burn symbols of feminine oppression (high heels, lipstick, girdles) in a “Freedom Trash Can” Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman (1971) becomes a feminist anthem

17. Legal Issues • learn from Civil Rights Movement, adopted civil disobedience tactics • affirmative action: any policy that takes factors including race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin into account in order to benefit an underrepresented group • glass ceiling: “unseen barrier” that prevents women and minorities from rising in the workplace • Equal Pay Act (1963) • Title IX (1972): equal funding for women in education • Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), originally proposed 1923, passed both houses of Congress in 1972, but failed ratification

18. Women of the Second Wave • Betty Friedan also founded NOW (National Organization of Women) • Gloria Steinem co-founded the feminist publication Ms. magazine • Shirley Chisholm was the first black Congresswoman (1968) • Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes” (1973) • Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court (1981) • Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman from a major party on the presidential ticket (1984) SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR BEING SWORN IN

19. THIRD WAVE FEMINISM • stretches from 1990s to present day • both a backlash against the failures and response to the achievements of Second-Wave Feminism • rejects the idea of a universal female identity • embraces diversity and change • not the same as post-feminism

20. Third Wave Characteristics: Concerned With: Riot grrrlis underground feminist punk music often associated with the Third Wave • Fluid notion of gender/rejection of the gender binary • Reclamation of derogatory terms • Diversity of women’s experience • Global Women’s Rights

21. Third Wave in Politics • Violence Against Women Act (1994) • Shannon Faulkner, first female admitted to the Citadel (1995) • Lilly Ledbetter Act (2009) • Women in politics: Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Sarah Palin • Women on the Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan LILLY LEDBETTER WAS PAID 15-40% LESS THAN HER MALE COLLEAGUES FOR THE SAME JOB

22. WHERE ARE WE NOW? Have we achieved equality? Have we gone too far? Or not far enough? Effects of Title IX Bias against men in custody cases Paternity Leave Education Gap Women in the military Global Women’s Rights