Women Stepping Up In American History - Essay Example

Women stepping up in American History Introduction Throughout the last one hundred years of American history, the roles of women and their fight towards acceptance in society have evolved immensely. Conventional principles concerning women were faced by new confrontations, whereby each cohort was faced by external forces such as wars and depressions, and other activities. All of the obstacles women faced during these times revolved around the public opinion, but this opinion only became motivation to push for equality. Originally, in the colonial period, women were limited as household caregivers and had little to no rights in society. Of course, this was not by choice; therefore, they decided to take a stand, and when both World Wars came, their prayers were answered. Nevertheless, the paper will focus on discussing the role of women in American business, since 1900 until now. After finally making their way into the manual labour force in America and overseas, women took further steps towards equal pay and became subjects of propaganda. Although the fight for equal pay continued, once all wars ended women were then immediately expected to give away their jobs and settle back into their caregiver role. This did not run smoothly in the eyes of women, and they revolted in strikes, since they knew that their efforts would prove to be triumphant, hence leave an interminable mark on American society. After the two wars, women were free to create their own lives, able to vote and allowed the right to a full education, and this increase in freedom led to an increase in occupied American women. Not only were they evolving in the work force, but also over the last century, fashion in America has experienced continual upheavals and radical changes. Ranging from dress length to head pieces, women used fashion as another way to express themselves and make their unique mark throughout history. Occupations Historically, women earned their living by keeping boarding houses while others were in occupations that were available to men. In this case, some of the women were doctors, lawyers, teachers and writers, and by the end of the nineteenth century, there was acceptance for women’s professions, though there were few women working in factories or as domestic workers. Nevertheless, there was exclusion of women from their profession apart from working as writers or teachers, for instance in the medical profession, there was a changed attitude during nineteenth and twentieth century concerning the occupation, which was suitable for women. Women who had been married at a young age had been deprived the chance of entering in to professions such as medicine during the beginning of the nineteenth century since it requires educational preparation (Jalilvand, 2000, 26). On the other hand, women were considered suited for occupations such as home nursing, through nursing in hospital were done by men. Therefore, women were discriminated in the field of heath care, for instance, women were barred from joining American Medical Association, which was established in 1846. Moreover, women were not allowed to attend men’s medical colleges, whereby they could only enrol in institutions such as Female Medical College of Pennsylvania that was founded in 1850. Nevertheless, women started to attend medical schools by 1910s, and this led to admission in to American Medical Association in 1915 (Women's International Centre, 1995, 1). Five percent of the doctors were women by 1890 in United States, and the proportion became seventeen percent. However, there was no improvement of status in women’s profession, though, by 1930, two percent of the lawyers in America were women, and later in 1989, and twenty-two percent of the judges were women. Nevertheless, in 1930, there were no engineers, who were women and in 1989, the proportion of women as engineers was seven percent. There are numerous women employed in a clerical position, industrial unit work, services jobs, secretaries, bookkeepers and typists for a large portion. On the other hand, women worked in factories as machine operators, assemblers and inspectors while others works as in services jobs such as waitress, cook, hospital attendant, cleaning woman and hairdressers. In fact, during the war women served as armed forces in the United States, where in the Second World War, there were three hundred thousand women, who served as Armey and Navy; through they were engaged in non-combatant jobs such as secretaries, typists and nurses. Therefore, in 1989, women constituted forty five percent of entire employment in the United States, though they had insignificant opportunities of making a decision cornering their occupation. Number of women under managerial or administration post were increasing by 1989, though this was superseded by the number of men while in 1970, despite Equal Pay Act, there was forty-five percent lower compensation for women compared to men and in 1988 about thirty-two percent lower (Hayghe, 1997, 46). Moreover, professional women were unable to acquire substantial tasks and chances for promotions like their male counterparts, and this led numerous cases that contributed to registration of Equal Employment Commission in 1970, which entailed women’s effort to eliminate prejudice in their occupation. Women were affected by discrimination due to the mistake related to a conviction of being in married or the likelihood of getting married; hence, they would become permanent workers. In fact, women who were married progressed throughout their profession for numerous years, whereby they were not temporary or undependable workforce. Furthermore, during the period between 1960 and 1970, there was an increase in the number of married women as workers, whereby they accounted for a half of the total labour force while they stayed had been in their employment before commencing families. Therefore, numerous women having children had secured employment since 1960, this changed dramatically women who were married, and with children under the age of 6, whereby in 1950 twelve percent were working, and forty-five percent in 1980 and in 1987, there was fifty-seven. More than half of the mother, who were employed had children under the age of three, by 1987 while black women having children had a higher chance of working compared to white or Hispanic, who had children. Moreover, the mothers maintained more than a half of the blacks with children compared to eighteen percent of whites, who had children. Women had a prime duty of the domestic work and caring for the family, despite the rise in the workforce, and in late 1970, men who were married to women, had to work about one hour every week on domestic chores compared to those with wives who were fulltime house makers. There was a significant issue related to women in maternity leave or the time spent resting after conceiving since according to the federal law, they are entitled to a time-off and a job after retuning, though few states required them to be paid while on leave by 1990s. In the twentieth century, there were more occupations opened for women, and in 1910, there was the first appointment of a woman as a police officer in Los Angeles. In fact, in 1919 a Sex Disqualification Removal Act was established allowing women to become lawyers, and civil servants, whereby there was the first female solicitor, Carrie Morrison, in 1922, and Irene Barclay, who became the first female-chartered surveyor. Earlier in 1917, Women's Royal Naval Service and Women's Royal Air Force were established since it appeared unusual for married women to work except during wartime. There was a change in the law by 1970, whereby there was equal compensation in terms of salaries and wages for both genders, and in 1973, there was an admission of women in the stocks exchange (Graham & Smith, 2005, 341). Therefore, by 1984, there was a law of equal pay, which gave work equal value, and this led to increased number of women in managerial positions and other highly paid jobs. During the twentieth century, there were new appliances aimed at making their housework easier such as the use of a vacuum cleaner and washing machines, which were available, though only the rich could afford them. However, in 1930 these appliances became common and though still expensive, and by 1959, two thirds of American homes had vacuum cleaners, though the fridges and washing machines were not common until 1960s. The introduction of birth control clinics and the sale of contraceptives gave American women new freedom, whereby they were able to make a decision on when to have children and work. Therefore, they were not interrupted by the period pregnancy; hence, it led to increased engagement of women in to the business and other economic activities. Dressing During the 1900, women wore long dresses, and it was not acceptable for women to show their legs while during 1910 women wore hobble skirts, which were narrow, thus making them hobble while wearing them. During the First World War, women’s clothes became more practical, where there was the invention of a bra by Mary Crosby in 1913, whereby she used two handkerchiefs that were joined by a ribbon (Lambert, 2012, 1). There were lipsticks being sold in tubes in the 1915 while women wore knickers, which ended below the knee, and in 1920, the knickers became shorter and they ended above the knee leading to younger women wearing briefs in mid-twentieth century. Revolutions in women’s clothes commenced in 1925, when they began wearing knee length skirts, and in the mod and late 1920s, it became fashionable for women to have a boyish appearance. Nevertheless, in 1930 dressing for women became more conservative and during the Second World War a necessity of saving material raised the need to have shorter skirts. Furthermore, there was an invention of bikinis in 1946 and the clothes were rationed until 1949; while, in 1947, there was the establishment of Christian Dior, which was a new look entailing long skirts and narrow waist that gave women an hourglass shape. Therefore, by 1950, women clothes had become entirely feministic, where the invention of the miniskirts in 1965, by Mary Quant led to skirts and cloths becoming informal. Conclusion In conclusion, the paper has explored the role of women in American business until the present days, whereby the discussion is covered in three sections. The first section entails the introduction, which offers background information on the topic in a way that offers a basis of understands the issues discussed in the other parts of the paper. The next section covers issues related to occupation of women, where the transitioning from 1900, when women were not expected to work until now when they are holding managerial positions, is discussed in an extensive way. Finally, the paper focuses on elaborating the changes in the mode of dressing which is influenced in the changes of occupation, whereby there is a change from wearing a long dress in 1900 to miniskirts in the present. Reference Graham, J. & Smith, S., (2005), Gender differences in employment and earnings in science and engineering in the U.S., Economics of Education Review, 24, 341-354 Hayghe, H., (1997), Developments in women’s labour force participation, Monthly Labour Review, 120, 41-46. Jalilvand, M., (2000), Married women, work, and values, Monthly Labour Review, 123, 26-31. Lambert, T., (2012), 20th Century Women: Women's Rights in the 20th Century, Retrieved on 16 November 2012 from Women's International Centre (WIC), (1995), Women's History in America, Compton's Interactive Encyclopaedia, Retrieved on 16 November 2012 from Read More