the american woman

8/1/2019 The American Woman

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The American Woman


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I. Women in the Colonial Era

A. Better than England1. Women enjoyed expanded property rights2. Womens roles still viewed through a Biblical prism

arranged marriages are common

B. Anne Hutchinson 16301. Sets a standard of female independencea. Antinomianismi. You are not obligated to follow morality and ethics of

religious authorities but be guided by conscience and

Bibleii. Had liberal view of women subordinate status in the

Church


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I. Women in the Colonial Era

contd

C. Abigail Adams 1776Remember the ladies1. ...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to

them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into thehands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if theycould. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies weare determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselvesbound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

D. Republican Motherhood 1776 Abigail Adams in the fore1. Republicanism required a virtuous, selfless, civically involved

citizenryand the mother was responsible to raise them.E. The emergence of separate spheres

1. Men handled public life work, voting, leading, civic duty2. Women handle the domestic realm children, home, etc.


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II. The New Nation to the Civil War

A. Impact of Industrial Revolution

1. Fewer families need every hand farming

a. Women from farms to factories

i. Feminine jobs factory, domestic service, teaching

b. Expanded opportunities for women in higher education

B. Marriage for love and family by choice

1. domestic feminism

a. women begin to assert and enjoy more rights in thehome


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contdC. 2nd Great Awakening spawns first wave feminism and reform movements1. First Wave understooda. Focus on changing laws and official policies and gaining suffrage2. Seneca Falls 1848a. Emerges from abolition movement and lack of womens rightsb. Declaration of Sentiments

i. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal;that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that amongthese are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rightsgovernments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of thegoverned. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, itis the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist uponthe institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, andorganizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their

safety and happinessThe history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries andusurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object theestablishment of a state tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to acandid world.

ii. Early cries for suffrage


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contd3. Women head other reform movementsa. Temperance Movementi. Carrie Nationii. hatchetations

b. Abolitioni. Harriet Beecher Stowe

c. Mental hospitalsi. Dorothea Dix

D. The nineteenth century is dominated by the idea of separate spheres1. Cult of domesticity women to have perfect virtue in their sphere kind mother,

loving, passive, delicateE. Early leaders of the First Wave1. Lucretia Mott

a. Leading early abolitionist2. Elizabeth Cady Stantona. Wrote the Declaration of Sentimentsb. Founder of the Womens rights movements


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III. Civil War to 1920s

A. Womens suffrage

1. Women in Wyoming get suffrage in 1869

a. Women on the frontier enjoy more rights and freedom

2. National Womens Suffrage Association founded in 1890

B. A new image of women The Gibson Girl - 1900

1. Athletic, independent, confident

2. New fields open to women in typing and switchboarding

a. Tied to emerging technology at turn of century


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III. Civil War to 1920s contd

C. Women in the progressive movement1. Ida Tarbella. Muckraker journalist wrote an expose about the anti-competitive business

practices of the Standard Oil Trust2. Carrie Chapman Catta. Leader of suffrage. Founded the National American Woman SuffrageAssociation (NAWSA)

3. Jane Addamsa. Founder of Hull House1. Settlement houses served the needs of the poor in urban areas.

4. Issues of concern around domesticitya. reconstruction, temperance, child labor, et al

D. Womens working conditions1. Muller v.Oregona. Womens health should be a factor in working conditions and limitations


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III. Civil War to 1920s contd

E. World War I brings gains for women

1. Large scale employment for women

2. Woodrow Wilsons support for their war effort lead topassage of 19th amendment

F. 1920s

1. Flappers challenge sexual mores of the time period

2. Margaret Sanger 1921

a. founds American Birth Control League which is the pre-

cursor of Planned Parenthoodi. She is indicted under Comstock Laws for mailingobscene materials


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IV. World War I to Present Day

A. World War II

1. Womens employment on unprecedented scale

a. Rosie the Riveter

b. Women by and large return to the home after the warand are part of the baby boom

c. The independence of women in this time sets the stagethe for 2ndWave feminism of the 60s and beyond

B. Betty Friedan the The Feminine Mystique

1. Premise suburban women are trapped in their rolesand want more

a. Highly influential and starts the 2nd Wave


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IV. World War I to Present Day

contdC. The 2nd Wave1. Less concern for legal status of women and more

attention paid to social and psychological impact ofoppression.

a. Many think the 2nd

wave is a backlash against the riseof suburban families after the gains women enjoyed inWWII.

2. National Organization of Women 19663. Title IX Legislation

a. No discrimination in federally funded activitiesi. Rise of high school and college sports for women

4. Roe v. Wade- 1973

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