9.2 – Women in Public Life
Setting the Stage
• The role of women was
drastically changing
around 1900
• Women were becoming
more independent
• Susette La Flesche –
works for rights of Native
Americans
– 1887: The Dawes Act
• Expanded roles &
participation in public life
Women in the Work Force
• Before the Civil War:
Women worked in the
home
• 1900: Adventure to the
work force = survival
– 1:5 Women held jobs
• Farms: Women work in
the home, take care of
livestock, harvest crops
• Industry: Better paying
opportunities to support
the family
Industry
• Women were denied
union membership
• 25% of women worked in
manufacturing
– Most work in the textiles
• Hold the least skilled
positions & paid ½ as
much
• Start to work in offices,
stores & the classroom
• 1890: women outnumber
men as high school
graduates
Domestic Workers
• Many uneducated/unskilled
women turn to cleaning
homes
– Ex: African-American women
after the end of slavery
• Jobs include cooks, maids,
scrubbers, laundresses
• 1870: ~70% of employed
women work as servants
The Lead to Reform
• Dangerous conditions,
low wages, long hours
lead for reform
• Movements pick up
after the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire
(146 dead)
• 1910: Women’s clubs
expand rapidly
– Discuss art, literature, &
life
Women in Higher Education
• Most active women
attended the new
women’s colleges
• 1865: Vassar College – 1st
to accept women
– Columbia, Brown, Harvard
form separate colleges
– Sophia Smith – p. 315
• Marriage no longer only
alternative – women can
gain effective status in the
work force
Women & Reform
• Workplace reforms were
bolstered by newly
educated women
• “Social Housekeeping” –
focus on work & home;
couldn’t vote
• 1896: NACW – managed
facilities for young children
• 1848: Seneca Falls
Convention – 1st organized
meeting to focus on reforms
for women in America
Early Suffrage
• 1869: Susan B. Anthony &
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
the NWSA
– 1st major group for
suffrage
• 1890: Combines to form
the National American
Woman Suffrage
Association
• Opposition
– Liquor Industry –
Prohibition
– Textile Industry – Child
Labor
– Men – Fear societal role
change
Suffrage: 3-Part Strategy
• 1) Attack state
legislatures for right to
vote
– 1869: Wyoming
• 2) Use court cases to test
the 14th Amendment –
citizens?
– Supreme Court deemed
citizenship doesn’t include
voting
• 3) National Constitutional
Amendment to vote
• Suffrage was modestly
successful, but great
reforms were achieved
“The Awakening”
Suffrage Before 1920
Green = Full Suffrage
Orange = Presidential
Suffrage
Red = No Suffrage