1941-1969 A challenge to the 'cult of true womanhood'?

Women and Work 1941-1969
1. WW2 1941-1945
  1. Women joined the workplace again in all industries as to increase the manufacturing power. Including married women.
    1. Even 350,000 women joined the armed forces.
  2. Still seen as an extension of their domestic role, as they were aiding their husbands and sons.
    1. Unlike before, 75% of women wanted to remain in paid employment following the war.
      1. Married women showed that they could work and still look after their domestic roles.
      2. Despite that the government grants for day cares for arms workers were withdrawn between 1942-1946...
  3. Still only a few people supported the idea of women at work.
  4. Post WW2
    1. Following the war, large amounts of women were laid off for returning soldiers.
    2. The media reinforced the idea of 'separate spheres' and suggested that the woman's place was in the home.
      1. Magazines portrayed the ideal American family with the woman being domestic and suggesting that this is the most rewarding role for a woman. Cooking, cleaning, gardening and beauty.
      2. 'Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care' by Dr. Spock 1946, popularly suggested the importance of a mother in the home.
      3. Any sign of a failing in the family was blamed on women wanting to work alongside, the rise of juvenile delinquency and the rise of the divorce rate in 1946 shocked many families into having these values.
    3. Unmarried women now had opportunities in the service economy (e.g leisure, eating, retail, secretary) including AA and immigrant women.
2. Education and the G.I Bill of Rights (1944)
  1. Established the right for ex-servicemen to access higher education, and helped fund this..
  2. Created a massive increase of men entering higher education, meaning that although women were still accessing it, the positions of jobs were less plentiful and men often got the careers the women desired. including women's work, like social work.
    1. Still an increase in women's admission into higher education.
3. Women in work in the 1960s
  1. 1960: Twice as many women working than in 1940.
  2. Increased in the number of well-educated wives entering work even when their husband provided a comfortable income already.
    1. Ideas of a second income were becoming acceptable as it allowed wealthier families to enjoy life and buy luxuries and be buy consumer goods.
      1. Women over 35 were beginning to enter work as their children grew older and were less dependent on a mother.
4. The 1950s changes to Economy
  1. In the 1950s the service industry overtook manufacturing in producing national income, so the government was happy to employ more women in these kinds of fields, as female labour was cheaper and would increase profits.
  2. The 'Space Race' in 1957 meant that america wanted to recognise all talents, including female talents, as to get ahead of the Russians
    1. Increased the size and quality of education for all.
    2. Marked a recognition that women could be talented and this increased oppertunities for women in education.
5. Norms and Values in the 1950s and 1960s
  1. No evidence suggests that women put work before their role as a wife and a mother. Young girls still went to college and hoped to find a suitable husband.
    1. The Cold War (1945-1980s) caused Americans to marry younger and have more children
  2. There was a change of view for better off families to create a second income so that they could gain more luxuries, rather than it being a failure of the male bread-winner. A great turning point.
    1. Caused a greater merging of the male and female roles.
    2. Lower income families still held the old ideas of male bread-winners, who failed if they couldn't provide.
    3. Children with working mothers become more independent and confident, and daughters were more likely to admire their mothers than those who's parents didn't work.
      1. They grew up with greater expectations of themselves for education and a career before marriage, and in the 1970s more single women worked and middle class and sometimes working class women began to marry later in life and produce fewer children.
Activists, Reformers and Campaigners 1941-1969
1. The 'burial of True Womenhood' in Arlington cemetry 1968
  1. Young feminists demonstrate on how they reject traditional womanhood' and the 'bury' the weak, submissive, dependent woman of the past. The 'power of wives and mothers' was seen as merely a substitute for real power.
    1. The manifestation of the 'new' feminism formed in the 1950s and 1960s.
2. 'new' feminism 1950s and 1960s
  1. The emergence of a distinct group of women who were willing to challenge the status of women in American society through more aggressive activism.
  2. Inspired by the 'spirit of the age', basically the campaign for black civil rights.
  3. A response to the failure of the government to respond positively to the demands of equal rights and equal pay, that had been sought after from as early as the vote in 1920.
    1. 1950s politicians weren't concerned with the woman's vote as they posed no threat since they weren't united in their goals for women and didn't vote as a whole.
    2. Women became disillusioned from what women of the past considered 'achievements'.
    3. JFK was seen as the first President to seriously consider the status of women's rights in 1961. But his policies failed to deliver what they promised.
      1. The President's Commission on the Status of Women in 1963 resulted positively with the Equal Pay Act for women, but also provided training for young women for marriage and motherhood sending a clear message of JFK's belief in norms and values. He even ignored Sanger's arguement that the government should provide birth control.
        The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination of gender, but the federal agency to ensure this, the 'Equal Employment Opportunities Commission', failed to satisfy the demands of feminists for equality.
  4. The total rejection of the protection of the home as the raison d'etre of women. Gave radical, contreversial and aggressive demands toward politics and policies.
    1. Betty Friedan was one of the most influential feminists of the 20th Century.
      1. Wrote novels as propaganda for the subject of women's liberation from 'separate spheres'. Her novel 'The feminine mystique' (1963) argued that women lived in 'comfortable concentration camps'.
        Urged women to adopt a 'new life plan' and play a role in the public sector. She challenged current social attitudes to women.
      2. Jewish.
      3. 1966 she formed the National Organization for Women (NOW) to press for equality through all kinds of protest: lobbying, filing lawsuits for discrimination, etc. to get the support of the public.
        Protesting against the Vietnam War gave them the confidence in their protesting capabilities.
        coined the term 'sexism'
        By 1968 they become more aggressive in their pursuit of their goals - mimicking Friedan's personality. They did public protests where they threw away their high heels, bras and curlers.
        Lost a lot support when they pressured for the rights of a woman to have an abortion.
      4. Slow to accept the emergence of the contraceptive pill in the late 1960s for concerns of the health risks, but feminists did pressure for more research and modification upon it.
      5. Co-founder of the National Organisation for the Repeal of the Abortion Laws (NARAL).
        Feminism was becoming too radical in their demands, that the divisions between feminists and the women upholding traditional values became larger.
        Caused the formation of anti-feminism in the 1970s, which gained political support.
  5. A strong body of women still supported the home and family whole-heartedly and was happy as long as the government maintained the protection of this.
3. 1970 a Women's Strike for Equality in New York brought together radical and moderate feminists, which attracted the newspapers, as they demand for equal opportunities in employment and safe, legal abortions
Women and Politics 1941-1969
1. Post-WW2 there was a distinct lack of sympathy for female issues in politics.
  1. Men in politics opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, and there were only 11 female judges in Congress slowly introduced by 1969, so women had no support from inside government.
2. The increase of males concerned with social issues like poverty, following 1930 Great Depression, etc. and men attending higher education, particularly after the G.I Bill of Rights 1944, meant that women had lost their political agenda from earlier.
  1. Female pressure groups struggled to exert any influence on government policy.
3. The introduction of the 'new' feminist movement brought the women's issues back into the political circles towards the end of the century.

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1941-1969 A challenge to the 'cult of true womanhood'?

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