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Society's View of Women
During the 1600s, society expected wives to be obedient and subservient to their husbands. -
Divorce in 1600s
Divorce was allowed but was extremely rare. -
Anne Hutchinson
Hutchinson, cast as an aggressive woman who didn’t know her place, was deemed an “Antinomian” (against the rule of law), tried for heresy and expelled from the colony. -
Accusations of Witchcraft
Mostly women were accused of witchcraft; witches were deemed unfeminine and hostile. -
Daughters of Liberty
A group of wealthy, patriotic women who were politically active formed the Daughters of Liberty. They had a small role fighting against the Stamp Act. -
Judith Sargent Murray Advocates for Woman's Rights
Judith Sargent Murray, powerful women’s rights advocate, poet and writer of “On the Equality of the Sexes” felt that women were as smart as men and should be allowed the same educational opportunities. -
Women in NJ Were Allowed to Vote
Women in NJ could vote because of a loophole in their constitution. It was the only state to give women new political privileges. Additionally, it contained “she” to leave no doubt. -
Republican Motherhood
Murray pushed republican motherhood: women must educate themselves about personal freedom, independence and not jump into marriages. They were obligated to teach their children these values. -
Catherine Beecher Opposed Equal Rights
During the early 1800s, educator Catherine Beecher was adamantly opposed to equal rights and used the separate spheres ideology to instruct women on domesticity. -
Grimké Sisters Give Speeches
Angelina and Sarah Grimké, whose father was a slave-owner, traveled throughout New England giving speeches about the evils of slavery. Each Grimké sister wrote about the unfair treatment of women and gender inequality. Sarah wrote Letters on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes and her sister wrote Letters to Catharine E. Beecher. They became more involved in pushing women’s rights. -
Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone gave lectures on women’s rights; the first abolitionist to do so. -
Cult of Domesticity
From the 1840's through the late 19th century, the home was the "woman's sphere". It was accepted that woman were more capable of expressing sensitivity towards children. Also, woman could be religious within their homes. -
Maragaret Fuller Writes About Separate Spheres
Margaret Fuller disagreed with separate spheres and wrote about feminism in Woman in the Nineteenth Century. She believed that women held back from intellectual pursuits because the didn’t want to appear masculine. -
William Lloyd Garrison Speaks About Slaves
In the mid-1800s, William Lloyd Garrison, outspoken women’s rights activist, advocated better treatment for slave women and their freedom, and wrote articles for and about women in his newspaper The Liberator. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe Writes Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe was appalled by the Fugitive Slave Act. Her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin was bout the evils of slavery and sold over 300,000 copies, 1.2 million in 1853. -
Woman's National Loyalty League
Women’s rights activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed an organization called the Woman’s National Loyal League to get a petition with 4,000 signatures for an amendment to end slavery. The organization also pushed for teh women's right to vote. -
NLU is Formed
William Sylvis forms the National Labor Union in 1866 and the NLU supported the cause of working women and even elected a woman as one of its national officers. -
Wyoming Gives Women the Right to Vote
Many new states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, and Idaho were generally more supportive of women's sufferage. Activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought hard for the right to vote. Wyoming became the first state to give women the right to vote in 1869. -
Knights of Labor Founded
The Knights of Labor is created and they wanted equal pay for women. -
"The American Woman's Home" is published by Catharine Beecher
"The American Woman's Home" is an advice book written by Catherine Beecher which was very popular. She spoke of Victorian self-consciousness about manners and dining etiquette. -
Only 13% of Women Work Outside the Home
In 1870, only 13% of women worked outside of their homes as cooks, maids, or cleaning ladies. Most disliked being servants and the long hours. In the next 30 years, this percentage greatly increases.Many women got jobs in factories with unpleasant working conditions, but many were eager to help provide monetary support for their families and earn their own livings. -
Colorado Allows Women to Vote in School Elections
Colorado is admitted to the Union and allows women the right to vote in school elections. -
Frances Willard is elected President of the WCTU
Willard was completely devoted to the temperence cause and five years after resigning as a dean of women and professor at Northwestern University, she was elected president of the newly formed Woman's Christian Temperence Union. -
From Cult of Domesticity to Victorian Lady
During the late 1880's and the 1890's, women were expected to create an artistic enviroment so her family could improve culturally. -
Vaudeville Gains Popularity
By the 1880's, vaudeville was attracting larger crowds than any other type of theatre. It provided inexpensive comedy to many working class whites and immigrants. Unlike saloons and sports, vaudeville appealed to both men and women. -
American Red Cross Founded
Clara Barton founded the organization the American Red Cross. -
New York Charity Organization Society (COS) Founded
Josephine Shaw Lowell founded the COS to make aiding the poor more efficient. The COS believed that poverty was a result of moral deficiencies. Critics accused the COS of being more interested in controlling the poor rather than helping them. -
Department Stores
Department stores became popular in the 1880's and 1890's because they served as a social, elite club for women who were financially sound. -
Safety Bicycle Gains Popularity
The safety bicycle, with smaller wheels, ball-bearing axles, and air filled tires, became very popular in the 1880's. Bicylces had been manufactered since the 1870's, but were not nearly as popular as the safety bicycles. Bicycling appealed to young women who felt restricted by the Victorian attitudes towards female exercise. -
Jane Addams Opens the Hull House
Addams purchased a run down mansion in Chicago in 1889. Addams and her coworkers repaired it and opened it as the Hull Hosue. It was a social center for immigrants where they could do many activities. By 1895, there were at least 50 other settlement houses around America. Most of the workers at the Hull House were young women in college. -
Women Make Up 35% of Work Force
By 1890, women made up more than 35% of the work force because new sewing and buffing machines allowed companies to hire less skilled women and children instead of skilled men. -
Women Begin to Work in Offices
As typewriters and telephones became more widely used, women began to get jobs as secretaries because they were offered higher pay and had much safer working conditions. -
DAR Founded
In October of 1890, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded by Eugenia Washington, Mary S. Lockwood, Mary Desha, and Ellen Walworth. The organization was designed to aid demale descendents of those who helped lead the fight for American Independence. Contrary to the Sons of the American Revolution, this organizations only allowed female members. -
WCTU Reaches 150,000 Members
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Lowell helps found the Consumers' League of New York
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Ida Wells Barnett leads anti Lynching Campaign
Ida Wells Barnett led a campaign against lynching in America after a hostile white group destroyed where she worked and led to her to move to Chicago from Memphis . Barnett was also very active outside the “Women’s sphere” as a suffragist, journalist and civil rights crusader. -
Florence Kelley becomes Cheif Factory Inspector for Illinois
Florence Kelley had worked at the Hull House and later became the Cheif Factory Inspector for Illinois in 1893 -
Katherine Bement Davis Works As A Superintendent
Katherine Bement Davis was a penologist who had worked as a superintendent at a reformatory for women, as well as NYC correction commissioner. -
California Suffrage Referendum Voted Down
A Californian suffrage referendum was voted down. Leaders of the woman’s movement joined forces with labor and male progressives. -
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Publishes Women and Economics
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, intellectual, feminist and writer of Women and Economics (1898) and Herland (1915). -
"The Awakening" is Published by Kate Chopin
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Number of Women Going to College Increases
Between 1880 and 1900, the percentage of women going to college increased from 30% to 71%. Oberlin College was the first college to accept women in 1836, and was followed by Columbia (1889), Brown (1889), Harvard(1889), Pembroke (1891), and Radcliffe (1894). -
Divorce Rate Climbs
By 1900, one in every twelve marriages ended in divorce. -
Number of High Schools in America Increases
By 1900, the number of high schools in America had jumepd to 5000 and the total number of students to more than half a million. -
ILGWU was Established
The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) was formed. -
Woman's Rights Movement Expands
New leaders used the impetus in California and some other states to bolster the woman’s movement throughout America. -
Oregon Law Passed
A law passed in Oregon in 1903, set a maximum of ten hours per day for women working in industries. -
Muller Vs. Oregon
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a ten-hour limit for women working in laundromats. This case marked a new social awareness of the judicial system. -
ILGWU Strike
The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU), a union formed by immigrants in NY in the needle trade, led a successful strike. Thousands of women workers stayed home and didn’t go to work for one day. -
Second ILGWU Strike
The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) had another strike which resulted in better working conditions and higher wages. -
Woman's Suffrage in California
A woman’s suffrage referendum was put to the vote in California; this time it passed. -
Roosevelt Supports Woman's Suffrage
1912: Theodore Roosevelt, the Bull Moose Party presidential nominee, campaigned on (among other issues) woman suffrage. -
Arizona, Oregon, and Kansas Grant Woman the Right to Vote
Arizona, Oregon, and Kansas granted women the right to vote. -
Alaska Grants Woman the Right to Vote
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Alice Paul Forms the Woman's Party
Alice Paul formed the Congressional Union with the goal of attaining the woman’s right to vote through an amendment enacted by Congress. Later renamed the Woman’s Party. -
Women March in NYC Protesting War
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Margaret Sanger Flees to England
Margaret Sanger, nurse, socialist, and birth control advocate from NY, escaped to England after charges were filed against her for her journal The Woman Rebel. -
Nevada and Montana Grant Woman the Right to Vote
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International Congrees of Women
Called on warring countries to submit to peace. -
"Hostess House" Opens in NY
In Plattsburgh, New York, a group of local women looking to help out homesick soldiers opened the first "Hostess House", a place where these soldiers could relax, be at home, at get their minds off of the war. -
Womens Land Army
Harriot Stanton Blatch(daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton) organizes the Womens Land Army to fill farmers jobs with women. -
Jane Addams Founded Woman's Peace Party
Jane Addams founded Women’s Peace Party with Carrie Chapman Catt and other women activists. This same year Addams also attended an International Congress of Women which urged countries at war to end their conflict through arbitration. After America entered the war, Addams’ criticism got her expelled from the DAR. -
Womens Peace Party Founded
Womens Peace Party founded by Jane Adamms with the help of Carrie Chapman Cat -
Jeannette Rankin Elected to Congress
Jeannette Rankin becomes the first woman elected to Congress. -
1 Million Women Working in Industry
By July of 1917, more than one million women were actively working in Industries around the nation in the midst of a war. Women worked tons of jobs from sreetcar conductors to even bricklayers. -
WCCND
Womens Committee of the Council of National Defense focused on range of concerns from women in industry all the way to educational propoganda. -
About 1 Million Women Worked in Industry
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Harriot Stanton Blatch Organizes Woman's Land Army
Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of woman's rights leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organized the Woman's Land Army during World War One. This group went around the country and replaced male farm workers while they were away -
Harriot Stanton Blatch Heads Fod Aministartion;s Speakers' Bureau
While America went to war with the central powers, women such as Harriot Stanton Blatch stepped up to keep the country rolling. She spread the administration's conservative message. -
Emma Goldman Deported
In December of 1919, the goverment deported more than 250 Russian aliens, inlcuding Emma Goldman who was a radical birth control activist -
Woman Get More Jobs
The number of women in white collar jobs such as schoolteachers, secretaries, typists, clerks and telephone operators went from 949,000 in 1900 to 3.4 million in 1920. -
Women Get the Right to Vote
the 19th amendment passed in 1920, allowed women the right to vote -
Women Urged Towards Sexual Morality
The Commission on Training Camo Activities went on a tour around the nation with more than sixty female lecturers to promote the idea of sexual morality. Their slogan was "Do your bit to keep him fit" -
Supreme Court Rules Minimum Wage Law for Women Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court ruled the minimum wage law for women unconstitutional. -
Child Labor Amendment Fails
Womens rights groups lobbied Congress and got them to pass a child-labor constitutional amendment but it wasn’t ratified by many states. -
Women Have Less Job Opprotunities Than Men
Men had more job opportunities requiring less physical work, such as in assembly lines than women. Even though the status of employed women rose by over 2 million, the number of employed didn’t vary much, staying at about 24%. -
The League of Women Voters Find Some Success
The League of Women Voters got several of their measures endorsed by 1920 major party platforms; polling places were held at schools and churches instead of saloons, and politics was no longer only for men. -
Women Part of Al Smith's Inner Circle
Reformers Frances Perkins (head of the state industrial board) and Belle Moskowitz (a key advisor) were part of the Democratic presidential nominee Al Smith’s inner circle. -
Women Earned LEss Money Than Men With Similar Jobs
In meat packing plants, women trimmers made $.37 an hour versus $.52 an hour men with the same job earned. -
Percentage of Women in Unions Falls
The percentage of working women with union membership fell to 3%. -
Ella May Wiggins Killed
Ella May Wiggins, a union strike leader was killed en route to a rally for union workers. -
Female Unemployment Rate Goes Up
The female unemployment rate was over 20% in the 1930's. -
Eleanor Roosevelt Sticks Up for Minorites
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, social justice advocate, supporter of settlement house works and Florence Kelley and her National Consumers League, introduced FDR to reformers, social workers, and minority rights advocates. She had a major role in shaping his policies. -
Frances Perkins Becomes First Female Cabinet Member
Industrial commissioner of NY and social justice advocate, Frances Perkins was Secretary of Labor in FDR’s administration. She was the first woman cabinet member. -
Married Women Urged to Stay At Home
Married women were urged to stay at home and to stop taking jobs away from unemployed males. Some cities wouldn’t hire married female teachers; other places fired them if they were married. -
FDR Appoints Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune, Florida educator, leader of civil rights for black women, and head of the National Council of Negro Women was appointed director of minority affairs in the National Youth Administration by FDR. McLeod was the leader of the “black cabinet” which connected black groups with the FDR administration. -
Molly Dewson Helps FDR's Campaign
Molly Dewson, who was the head of the women’s division in the Democratic party and friend of the Roosevelts, helped to get out the female vote in FDR’s 1936 campaign. She organized 15,000 women who went from house to house handing out flyers with information about the New Deal programs. -
Dorthea Lange Assigned to Take Pictures of Dust Bowl Families
Photographer Dorthea Lange was assigned by the Farm Security Administration to take pictures to record the plights of dust bowl families, migrant workers in California and many other poor people enduring hardships. -
Eleanor Roosevelt Resigns From the Daughters the American Revolution
Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution after they prevented Marian Anderson, a black contralto from singing at Constitution Hall in Washington. -
4 million women were employed in the US and made up less than 1/4 of the work force.
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16 out of every 100 marriages ended in divorce.
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Hannah Arendt, German Jewish philosopher and political theorist fled Germany and arrived in NYC.
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Jeanette Rankin Votes Against War With Japan
Republican Representative Jeanette Rankin from Montana, the first woman elected to Congress was the only dissenting vote against the US going to war with Japan. -
16 million women worked in the US.
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Over 18 million women worked in the US.
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The divorce rate increased to 27 out of every 100 marriages
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More than 1/3 of the work force was women.
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In a poll just 18% of those questioned supported the idea that married women should work.
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40% of college graduates were women.
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Helen Gahagan Douglas loses to Nixon in California Senate Race
Helen Gahagan Douglas, politician and women’s rights activist lost to Richard Nixon in the California Senate race. She was accused by Nixon as having communist sympathies and that she was “pink right down to her underwear.” -
Margaret Sanger Asks Scientist to Devise a Contraceptive
Feminist Margaret Sanger and activist and biologist Katherine McCormick asked scientist Gregory Pincus to devise a contraceptive. He was financed by McCormick, International Harvester heir. -
Esquire magazine referred to wives who worked as a “menace.”
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American author Eudora Welty’s book The Ponder Heart is written.
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Rosa Park Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus
Rosa Parks, Montgomery NAACP officer, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus and was arrested. Her protest was inspirational to many and helped the civil rights cause. -
Seventeen magazine advised its female readers to be subordinate to and agree with their men folk.
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The Pill is Created
Enovid (the Pill) created by Pincus and others was approved by the FDA but not as a contraceptive. -
Number of Women in Workforce Increases
Women made up 1/3 of the labor force. 1 out of 3 married women had outside jobs. In this year, 60% of all employed women were married and 40% had children in school. -
Women Strike for Peace
The organization called Women Strike for Peace was comprised mainly of middle-class housewives. These women were worried about the amounts of radioactivity in the air and threats of nuclear war. -
Rachel Carson Writes About Enviromental Damages
In her book Silent Spring, published in 1962, Rachel Carson, former Fish and Wildlife researcher alerted Americans about the damages to the environment from fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide usage. Her portrayal about how DDT spread through the food chain and killed songbirds resulted in its ban by many states. -
The Type of Women Involved in the Feminist Movement in the 60's
Throughout the 1960's, the Feminist Movement included educated women unhappy with their status and also younger women in civil-rights and anti-war causes who learned the importance of organized protests. -
The Feminine Mystique is Published
Feminist Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique was published. Friedan fought traditional attitudes confining women to being stay-at-home wives and mothers in suburbia and pushed for more independence, assertiveness, and career opportunities for women. -
Woman's Activists Push for Legalizing Abortions
Thoughout the 1960's, woman's activists pushed for legal abortions and examination of degrading medical care for pregnant women. Some wanted different choices about childbirth delivery and breast cancer treatments. -
Women Push for Sexual Discrimination to Be Banned in Civil Rights Act
In the early 1960's, the women in the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women successfully advocated that discrimination in sexual and racial employment be banned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
EEOC Does Not Ban Gender Discrimination in the Workplace
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established (as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) but wasn’t able to enforce ban on gender discrimination in the workplace. -
NOW is Created
The civil-rights group National Organization for Woman (NOW) was formed by Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Aileen Hernandez, and other women who were upset by the EEOC’s inability to prohibit the workplace discrimination ban -
The song “Divorce” was the number one hit.
The number of people divorced rose from 2.2 out of every 1000 in 1960 to 3.5 out of every 1000 in 1970. During the 1970's, the number almost gets to 7 out of every 1000. -
More WomenBbought the Pill than any of the other Contraceptives Combined.
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Women's Suffrage 50th Anniversary
Women’s Strike for Equality observed the Women’s Suffrage’s 50th anniversary. Throughout America thousands of women marched in support of legalized abortions and equal working opportunities. It was biggest women’s rights’ protest in history. -
In New York, 1 out of 3 pregnancies ended in abortion.
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Opposition to the Pill
During the 1970's, not all women benefitted from the Pill. Some developed health problems; feminists felt it empowered doctors and drug companies; conservatives felt it increased immorality. -
More Women Gain Full Time Jobs
By 1970, the number of women with full time jobs outside the home was over 40%. -
Women's Magazine Ms. Founded
Feminist Gloria Steinem introduced the women’s magazine Ms. -
National Women's Political Caucus Founded
The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) was founded by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, and other activists to advance feminism. -
The Equal Rights Amendment Passes Congress
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Roe v Wade
In Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruled abortions performed in the first 3 months of pregnancies lawful. -
By 1973, Gay Activists Openly Pushed for Inclusion of Lesbians into the Women’s Movement
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Massachusetts Lesbian Elaine Noble was Elected to the State Legislature.
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Donna Summer Agasint Homosexuals
Singer Donna Summer, who rediscovered Christianity, felt God made AIDS to punish gays. -
Over 1.5 million Abortions Were Performed.
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Sandra Day O’Connor Nominated to the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O’Connor, nominated by Reagan, was the first woman to be a Supreme Court justice, which pleased feminists. -
Friedan Writes The Second Stage
Betty Friedan’s The Second Stage advised women activists to promote family concerns. -
Geraldine Ferraro Involved in 1984 Election
Democratic Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, chosen by Mondale, was the first woman running mate in a presidential election. However, in this election, more women voted Republican than in 1980.
