Women in History 1970-Today

According to an article posted on msmagazine.com called Things American Women Could Not Do Before the 1970s it states a lot of interesting things women were not allowed to do before the 1970's. After the 1970's America's social attitudes changed about women. It was a turning point in American history and each year I feel we are working toward woman rights and equality in social situations.

 

 

1. Keep her job if she was pregnant.

Until the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978, women could be fired from their workplace for being pregnant.

2. Report cases of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The first time that a court recognized sexual harassment in the workplace was in 1977 and it wasn’t until 1980 that sexual harassment was officially defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

3. Be acknowledged in the Boston Marathon.

Women could not don their running shoes until 1972!

4. Get a credit card.

Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, women were not able to apply for credit. In 1975, the first women’s bank was opened.

5. Refuse to have sex with her husband.

The mid 70s saw most states recognize marital rape and in 1993 it became criminalized in all 50 states. Nevertheless, marital rape is still often treated differently to other forms of rape in some states even today.

6. Compete as a boxer in the Olympics.

It wasn’t until the 2012 London Olympics that women could compete in boxing in the Olympics. This was marked with the amazing victory by Britain’s Nicola Adams.

7. Get a divorce with some degree of ease.

Before the No Fault Divorce law in 1969, spouses had to show the faults of the other party, such as adultery, and could easily be overturned by recrimination.

8. Celebrate International Women’s Day.

In 1980 President Carter declared one week in March to be National Women’s History Week, including International Women’s Day on March 8^th.

9. Have a legal abortion in most states.

The Roe v. Wade case in 1973 protected a woman’s right to abortion until viability

 

 

 

 

In the article What Are Women's Rights by Jone Johnson Lewis there is a list of women's right that stand today. here they are:

Summary: what is included in "women's rights"?

Generally, then, claims about women's rights can be classified into several general categories, with some specific rights applying to several categories:

Economic rights, including:

• right to own and dispose of property
• right to inherit property in her own name and control it; right to designate who will inherit her property
• right to her own wages and income
• equality of survivor's rights upon death of a spouse (e.g. how much property one inherits, whether one has a right to continuation of a spouse's pension benefits)
• access to jobs, trades, professions
• equality of treatment within jobs, trades and professions, including promotions
• equal pay for equal work, equal pay for work of equal value (comparable worth)
• access to credit in her own name
• equal participation in labor unions
• right to job protection when taking maternity leave

Civil rights, including:

• legal and contract rights
• equality of citizenship (treated as a full adult, equal to males, rather than as a minor, a slave, or a legal non-entity)
• general equality of rights under the law
• ability to sue in court, to represent one's self
• be a witness in court
• serve on juries
• serve as an attorney
• marriage, divorce and parenthood rights
• married women's legal existence separate from her husband
• marriage rights, including consent to marriage and equal rights and responsibilities within marriage
• keeping her own name after marriage
• equality of rights in determining where to live
• divorce rights, including equal ability to initiate divorce and rights to child custody and property division on the same basis as men
• right to equal guardianship of children during marriage
• right to child custody after divorce or widowhood
• basic civil freedoms
• free speech
• freedom of religion
• freedom to change nationality

Social and cultural rights, including

• control over her own person
• education - both basic and higher education
• equal access to both basic and higher education
• equal access to educational programs, including sports
• professions open to women, including law, medicine, teaching, theology
• roles in religious institutions, including voice, participation, serving as clergy
• treatment within the military: roles, promotion, treatment
• moral codes: absence of the "double standard"
• choices regarding roles and responsibilities within the home
• choices regarding roles and responsibilities regarding children
• sexual choices, including sex outside of marriage
• choice regarding family size and reproduction, and methods of controlling: contraceptives, abortion
• safety from sexual mistreatment, including rape, traffic in women, and exploitation of prostitutes
• choice of dress

Political rights, including

• participation in the political sphere, including having a voice and influence
• voting
• running for and serving in political offices
• inheriting titles and ruler ship in her own name

 

Reflecting on women's rights in my life, I have never felt like I wasn't an equal. I have yet to be in a situation where I feel I did not have rights or the same rights as a man. I anticipate that later on in my life I will deal with a situation where I am not equal to a man perhaps in a job or out in the community.  I feel as though society has come a long way from the early 1980's but still has room for improvement. I have a lot of traditional outlooks on life and the role in society for women. I grew up in a very traditional household with a stay at home mother and a hard working father. My mother stayed at home while my dad provide for the family. In my opinion that is how it should be, but for laws and regulations restricting women from working if they want to is crazy. I feel as though women who want to work and have an equal role in society as men they should be entitled to the same rights as men. No law should keep them from doing what they want. Regardless of my outlook and opinion I don’t think there should be laws in place to prohibit women from doing what they want. Looking at the history of women through the time of this history course, I have become much more open minded with things. It made me look at different double standards I hold in my mind. I feel that I have grown into a critical thinker. It has allowed me to look past my personal opinions whether it be socially, culturally, or religiously and look at it with other points of views regarding abortion, women's rights, and the social and cultural status of women.

Women & World War II

Women in the Military

In 1940 Japan attacks pear harbor and the United states enters the second World War. In 1942 two groups were established for women. They include The Women's Army Corps (WAC) and Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Also congress allows women to serve in the United States Navy. In 1943, an all girls professional baseball team was established.

 

 

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history/videos/ask-history-rosie-the-riveter

"During World War II, some 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed Forces, both at home and abroad. They included the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who on March 10, 2010, were awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal. Meanwhile, widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home."


http://womenshistory.about.com/od/warwwii/a/women_work.htm
In Jone Johnson Lewis's article about Women in Offices, Factories, and Other Jobs during WW2, she states,"During World War II the percentage of American women who worked outside the home at paying work increased from 25% to 36%. More married women, more mothers, and more minority women found jobs than had before the war. Because of the absence of many men who either joined the military or took jobs in war production industries, some women moved outside their traditional roles and took positions in jobs usually reserved for men. Propaganda posters with images like "Rosie the Riveter" promoted the idea that it was patriotic -- and not unfeminine -- for women to work in non-traditional jobs. "If you've used an electric mixer in your kitchen, you can learn to run a drill press," urged an American War Manpower Campaign. As one example in the American shipbuilding industry, where women had been excluded from almost all jobs except a few office jobs before the war, women's presence went to over 9% of the workforce during the war. Thousands of women moved to Washington, DC, to take government office and support jobs. There were many jobs for women at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, as the US explored nuclear weapons. Minority women benefited from the June, 1941, Executive Order 8802, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after A. Philip Randolph threatened a march on Washington to protest racial discrimination. The shortage of male workers led to opportunities for women in other non-traditional fields. The All American Girls Baseball League was created during this period, and reflected the shortage of male baseball players in the major league."