Women's Autonomy Throughout U.S. History
I am researching how women’s autonomy has changed throughout U.S. history and the impact that certain policies have had on society. From the early days when women were not allowed to vote, to today, when women continue to advocate for reproductive rights and equal pay. Through this research, I hope to show the change that's taken place over the years as well as what continues to require change.
The women’s suffrage movement was really the catalyst in advocating for change, equality, and autonomy for women. However, even today, we see a need to advocate for equal treatment and women’s rights and while we’ve come a long way, there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially around pay gaps and health services. Another relevant theme I've noticed in all my research is how differently minorities, particularly femal minorities are treated and the added level of inequality that exists for those groups.
I’m choosing to focus on this topic because it’s something that has come a long way since the women’s suffrage movement, and yet there’s still a lot of work to be done around equal treatment for women. If we look at almost any big accomplishment in modern civilization, there is often a misogynistic viewpoint that focuses on the successes of men, while forgetting the contributions that women have had. Through this research, I want to focus on how women have advocated for change and worked to let their voices be heard and accomplishments acknowledged.
Questions I've identified as relating to this story map:
- What political policies have impacted women's autonomy in U.S. history?
- How have women advocated for change?
- What systems and institutions have held women back from equal treatment?
A Timeline of Women's Milestones:
July 19-20, 1848
The first women's rights convention is organized by women in New York. This "sparked decades of activisim, eventually leading to the passage of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote."
May 29, 1851
Sojourner Truth speaks "her famous 'Ain't I a Woman' speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio."
May 15, 1869
The National Woman Suffrage Association is founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Aug. 18, 1920
The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
Dec. 1, 1955
"Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montogomery, Ala. The move helps launch the civil rights movement."
May 9, 1960
The first birth control pill to be commercially produced is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
June 10, 1963
The Equal Pay Act is signed into law by President John F. Kennedy.
June 30, 1964
"President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law; Title VII bans employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or sex."
Jan. 22, 1973
"The U.S. Supreme Court declares that the Constitution protects a woman's legal right to an abortion" in a 7-1 Roe V. Wade ruling. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2022.
Sept. 20, 1973
"Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs" in an exhibition tennis match that aired on TV, stating "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match" once the match was over.
June 18, 1983
Sally Ride flys on the Space Shuttle Challenger, becoming the first American woman in space.
Sept. 13, 1994
President Bill Clinton "signs the Violence Against Women Act," which provided "funding for programs that help victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, stalking and other gender-related violence."
Jan. 24, 2013
"The U.S. military removes a ban against women serving in combat positions."
July 26, 2016
Hillary Clinton receives a presidential nomiation for the Democratic party - the first woman to receive such a political nomination.
January 20, 2021
"Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first woman and first woman of color vice president of the United States."
*All events listed in the timeline above can be found here .
McFarland, Keith. “Gender Equality in Sports – Is It Coming?” SportsNetworker.com Is the #1 Resource Online For Sports Business Professional Looking To Take Their Sports Career To The Next Level, 2019, https://www.sportsnetworker.com/2014/11/04/gender-equality-in-sports-is-it-coming/ .
In this article, the author discusses the gender differences in sports - both in media representation and in the sports themselves. When it comes to media coverage, male sports are broadcasted 97% of the time, while women's sports are only broadcasted 3% of the time. This is a stark difference in tv coverage in sports and something that drastically affects pay among athletes as well as for interest in the sport itself. However, I think this has changed in recent years as more advocates have been put in the spotlight for women's sports. The article also talks about how male sports tend to have an "established fan base and motetary backers" that allow them to be more economically attractive to tv broadcasters, whereas women's sports tend not to have those established pieces and are more of a risk to broadcasters to invest time slots into.
This article helped me understand just how gendered the treatment of athletes is from a broadcast and an economic perspective. Because male sports tend to get televised more often, the players tend to make more money, which further recycles the system of inequality. This is a great example of the systemic gender inequality that exists in our culture and is a great piece to add to this project.
Holland, B. (2021, April 1). 11 bold women who changed the world. History.com. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.history.com/news/bold-women-who-changed-the-world .
This article showcases the incredible accomplishments that women have had in the world and the long-term impacts we may not know about. The article features 11 stories abotu women who contributed to radical change in the U.S. From advocating for women's rights and abolition to inventing incredibly advanced technologies that were a precursor to today's modern advancements and creating women's programs in the athletic realm. Each of these women had a huge, and mostly unknown, impact on our modern society and the opportunities that women have today.
This piece in particular gives me a lot of insight into how deep the contributions of women in the U.S. goes and gives a lot of examples to use for this project. I can use each of these women's stories as examples of the effort and grit that women have had on creating a more equal society. I also learned that there are a lot more pieces to our modern society that are a direct result of these pioneers and their legacies continue to affect our society today.
Davaki, K. (2012, March). Directorate General for Internal Policies - European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies/. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2012/462439/IPOL-FEMM_NT(2012)462439_EN.pdf .
This document looks at the current discriminatory behaviors against women in the U.S. and then looks at different ways in which those discriminations can be combated with the instillation of new legislation to create equity amongst men and women in areas of life outside of the workforce. The document begins by illuminating some of the discriminatory statistics and areas where discrimination are most present: focusing on the workplace, healthcare access, and representation in business and politics. The goal of the document is to illustrate the inequality of women in the U.S., even today and to give some ideas as to how that can change in the future.
This document does a great job of illustrating how, even though there have been a lot of policies put in place to eliminate discrimination against women, the social practices in place allow discrminiation to happen organically. This is a great piece of information for this project as it highlights how deep the sex differences and dynamics are in our culture and the level of change that would be required to truly alter the stereotypical gender role assumptions and create a more equal society. Not only does it highlight the policy changes throughout our country's history, but it shows how discrimination is still ever present in our society and the cultural effect it has had as a whole.
Women and gender in public policy. U.S. GAO. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.gao.gov/women-and-gender-public-policy .
This document did a great job of outlining the different ways in which women and gender minorities are treated poorer than men in a number of different aspects of life. It listed out quite a few different examples of how gender and minority status play a role in the treatment and representation of women in the U.S. The biggest pieces of information centered around sexual violence and pay gaps between men, women, and minorities.
I didn't know that women tend to have less retirement income than men and lice in poverty moer often, although it should have been obvious seeing as they tend to be the caretakers for parents spouses, and children: all of which can affect retirement assets. I also found it very interesting that the wage gap amongst federal employees is significantly smaller than that of other companies. I can definitely see using this information for this project as it provides great examples as to how deep the inequality goes in our society.
The gender pay gap: What to know and how to fight it. Ellevest. (2022, March 10). Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.ellevest.com/magazine/disrupt-money/closing-the-gender-pay-gap .
This article talks about the gender pay gap, including its causes as well as ways we can work to reduce the pay gap. It mentions how gender and racial factors plays a large role in why "the pay gap is structural, not individual" (Ellevest, 2022). It then gives off some specific ways that women can advocate for higher wages at work and how to talk with others about it outside of work.
This article is particularly useful for me because it talks about ways that we can advocate for closing the wage gap and gives great insight into how this pay gap is shown in the workplace. One of the most interesting things I read in this article was that the pay gap has narrowed in recent years, although it’s “narrowed because a disproportionate number of low-wage workers lost their jobs and / or left the workforce during the pandemic” (Ellevest, 2022).
Groysberg, B., Healy, P., & Lin, E. (2020). Determinants of gender differences in change in pay among job-switching executives. ILR Review, 75(1), 168–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793920930712 .
In this journal, the authors attempt to find out what determines the pay differences between male and female executives who join another company. From the study, they found that the new work placement saw a smaller pay gap between men and women than they had at their previous company: 15% compared to 21.5%, respectively. They also found evidence that the demand for women executives affects the level of pay differences that exist.
This journal was very interesting to read as it shed light on the pay gap issue at the executive level and directly compared female and male executives, which I hadn't seen done before. I also found it really interesting that there's significantly less of a gap when female executives are hired from another company. I will definitely be able to use this article to explain how the differences between pay have shifted over time and over different companies.
Corbett, Holly. “Women's Equality Day 2022: What Women's Fight for Voting Rights Can Teach US Today.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 Aug. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2022/08/26/womens-equality-day-2022-what-womens-fight-for-voting-rights-can-teach-us-today/?sh=6ece63256385 .
This article talks about how far women's rights have come in the past 100 years and how much work still needs to be done for equity to exist. The article talks about the mostly untold story of Matilda Joslyn Gage who was one of the women "at the helm of the National Woman Suffrage Association" and was incredibly progressive (Corbett, 2022). She believed that there was no equality until minorities and immigrants were considered equal too - it wasn't enough for white women to be able to vote. The article then talked about how we need to understand much more of our history in order to create better strategies today to not make the same mistakes. The article then goes on to discuss Native Americans' work toward equality and reproductive rights as they've changed throughout the past 150 years.
This was an incredibly insightful article as it discussed many of the things that our ancestors dealt with and how we still feel the effects of those discrminations today. It also was incredibly helpful to understand some of the untold stories of those who worked to make equity possible and those who continue to fight for rights. It was interesting to read abotu what the past used to look like and how we still face some of the same battles today in terms of gender equality. This piece is helpful for this project as it directly compares today's gender equality with that of 150 years ago.
Interpretation and Conclusion
Now that I have completed this research, I've learned a lot about how women's autonomy and equality have changed over time. From fighting for basic voting rights, to reproductive rights and equal pay in the workplace, the continual light that's been shed on women's issues is ever present. There are numerouse themes from this class that relate to this topic. Our identity, culture, politics, and economics are all affected by how we treat half of the population differently than the other. When it comes to Geographies of the Western World more generally, I think there's a lot that can be said abotu women's rights and the need to create an equal society in order to consider ourselves as a developed, Western country. While women have come a long way from advocating for voting rights, we still see massive, structural issues in the way of equality and constant advocation is still required. So what's next? Will we continue to move towards equality or will we shift backwards again?
