GOV 312L: Gender & Politics Midterm

De jure

Equality/discrimination that exists in the law

De facto

Equality/discrimination that exists in practice
ex. difference between legal rights & lived experiences

Coverture

Women could not independently own property, sign contracts or sue
significance: foundation of women’s legal dependence in early America

Widow’s dower/thirds

Widows were entitled to use one third of their husband’s estate after his death
significance: one of few economic protections available to women before modern property rights

Republican Motherhood

idea that women should raise virtuous, informed citizens for the new REPUBLIC. encouraged female education for motherhood
significance: expanded women’s public importance but reinforced traditional gender roles

New Jersey Constitution (1776 - 1807)

Allowed women and free black people to vote if they owned property. Revoked in 1807
Significance: example that women’s exclusion from voting was not always universal

Edenton Tea Party

1774 political boycott organized by North Carolina Women against British goods
significance: early example of organized women’s political activism

A vindication of the rights of woman (1792)

Written Mary Wollstonecraft. argued that women deserved education and rational equality.
significance: foundational feminist text

Feminization of Religion

During 19th century women became the majority in many protestant churches
significance: religion became a pathway for women into reform movements & public activism

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical abolitionist & publisher of The Liberator supporting women’s rights
significance: connected abolitionism and feminism

Lucretia Mott

Quaker abolitionist & women’s right activist. Helped organize Seneca Falls
significance: key bridge between abolition and women’s rights

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Major women’s rights leader & principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments
significance: one of the founders of the organized suffrage movement

1848 Seneca Falls Convention

First major women’s rights convention
significance: launch of organized women’s rights activism in the U.S.

Declaration of Sentiments

Seneca falls document modeled after the declaration of independence. Declared that “all men and women are created equal”
significance: established suffrage as a central goal

Sojourner Truth

Formerly enslaved abolitionist and women’s rights advocate. Famous “Ain’t I a woman?” speech
significance: highlighted interactions of race and gender

Frederick Douglas

Formerly enslaved abolitionist. Supported women’s suffrage in Seneca Falls.
significance: important ally linking racial and gender justice — relationship flipped after the passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment

Susan B. Anthony

Leader of suffrage activism. Partnered with Elizabeth Stanton
significance: central national figure in the suffrage movement

Partus sequitur ventrem

Legal principle that a child’s status followed their mothers. Children of enslaved women were enslaved
significance: ensured slavery reproduced across generations and exploited enslaved women’s bodies

James Marion Sims

Physician known as the “father of gynecology” conducted experimental surgeries on enslaved women without consent
significance: example of racism and sexism in medical history

13th Amendment

abolished slavery
significance: expanded freedom but not political equality

14th Amendment

Citizenship and equal protection. First constitution use of the word “male” regarding voting
significance; created conflict within women’s movement

15th Amendment

prohibited denying voting rights based on race. not including sex
significance: sparked major conflict among suffrage activists

Split/Schism after the 15th Amendment

Stanton and Anthony opposed the ratification of the 15th amendment without women’s voting rights
significance; women’s movement divided over race, strategy, and priorities

Lucy Stone

Suffragist who supported the 15th amendment & founded the American Women suffrage association
significance; represented a more moderate incremental strategy to suffrage

Minor v. Happersett (1874)

Supreme Court ruled citizenship did not guarantee voting rights.
significance: closed a legal path to women’s suffrage

Black Codes

Southern laws restricting freedom of formerly enslaved people
significance: demonstrated limits of reconstruction and equal citizenship

Public Motherhood

Expansion of republican motherhood. Women justified political activism through protecting families and communities
significance: opened space for women in reform politics

First Western states to grant women’s suffrage

Wyoming (1869 territory), Utah (1870), Colorado (1893), Idaho (1896)
significance: western states became testing grounds for women’s voting right as they wanted more women to go there and help the issues

Insider vs. Outsider Strategies

Insider: work through parties, lobbying & institutions
Outsider: protest, demonstrations, direct action
significance: major strategic debate in social environments

Polygamy & Suffrage

Utah women gained suffrage partly to defend Mormon interests. Anti-polygamy campaigns targeted Mormon political power
significance: shows suffrage debates were tied to religion and federal power

Page Act

restricted immigration of Asian women, especially Chinese women suspected of prostitution
significance: early immigration law shaped by race & gender

Jane Addams

Founder of Hull House. Reformer focused on poverty, public health, and immigrants
significance: expanded women’s political influence through social reform

Maternalistic Reforms

policies justified through women’s roles as mothers. ex. child labor laws, health programs.
significance: increased state involvement while reinforcing gender roles

Temperance Movement/Prohibition

campaign against alcohol. Closely linked with women’s activism and WCTU

significance: demonstrated women’s growing political mobilization

Ida B. Wells

journalist and anti-lynching activist. Suffragist who challenged racism within the movement.
significance: key black feminist figure

Nellie Bly

Investigative journalist, exposed abuse in mental institutions
significance; showed women’s role in reform journalism

1913 March on Washington

Large suffrage parade in Washington D.C.
significance: brought national attention to women’s voting rights

Silent Sentinels

Women who picketed the white house for suffrage, organized by Alice Paul
significance: first group to continuously picket the white house

Night of Terror

1917 prison abuse of suffragists arrested for protesting.
significance: generated public sympathy for suffrage

Alice Paul

militant suffrage leader, advocated direct action and later ERA (equal rights amendment)
significance: key architect of the final suffrage push

Lucy Burns

Suffrage activist and ally of Alice Paul. Helped organize confrontational tactics.
significance: important national women’s party leader

Debates in Congress over the 19th Amendment

supporters argued democracy required women’s votes. Opponents claimed politics would undermine traditional gender roles
significance: reflected broader struggles over citizenship and gender

Post 19th Amendment Trends

turnout among women initially lower than men. Women did not vote as one unified block, activism shifted towards policy issues and legal equality
significance: voting rights did not automatically create political equality

Buck v. Bell (1927)

Supreme Court upheld forced sterilization of people labeled “unfit”
significance: major example of eugenics supported by law

Ann Cooper Hewitt

wealthy woman secretly sterilized by her mother because she dated black men
significance: publicized abuses of eugenic sterilization

Relf v. Weinberger (1974)

Case revolving involuntary sterilization of black girls in Alabama
significance: led to stronger federal consent requirements

Madrigal v. Quilligan

Latina women sued after coerced sterilizations in California
significance: highlighted reproductive injustice affecting immigrant women

Lanham Act (1940) / Community Facilities Act (1942)

funded childcare and community services for working mothers during WWII
significance: government support enabled women to enter war industries

Rosie the Riveter

Symbol of women industrial workers during WWII
significance: challenged assumptions about women’s capabilities and work roles

Impact of WWII on Society

increased women’s labor force participation, expanded expectations for women’s public roles, laid groundwork for later feminist movements
significance: major turning point in gender norms

Gloria Richardson

civil rights leader in Cambridge, Maryland who emphasized self-defense and economic justice
significance: expanded definitions of civil rights activism

Jo Ann Robinson

helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott
significance: crucial behind-the-scenes leadership

Dorothy Height

President of the national council of negro women
significance: connected civil rights and women’s rights

Fannie Lou Hamer

Voting rights activist from Mississippi, famous for challenging exclusion of black voters
significance: symbol of grassroots black political participation

Diane Nash

student civil rights leader, organized freedom rides and voter registration efforts
significance: demonstrated women’s leadership in movement organizing

Ella Baker

influential grassroots organizer, helped found the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin
significance: sex discrimination provision became key for women’s rights

Voting Rights Act (1965)

protected voting rights and targeted discriminatory barrier
significance: expanded political participation for black americans

Louisiana v. Callais (2026)

supreme court redistricting case involving Louisiana congressional maps & minority representation
significance: relevant to debates about voting rights and representation

Betty Friedan

author of the Feminine Mystique criticized limitations of domestic life for women
significance: sparked second wave feminism

Margaret Sanger

Birth control activist and the founder of organizations that became planned parenthood
significance: central figure in reproductive rights politics

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Recognized married couples right to contraception
significance: established constitutional privacy rights

Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)

Extended contraception rights to unmarried people
significance: expanded reproductive autonomy

No-Fault Divorce

allows divorce without proving wrongdoing
significance: increased individual freedom and changed family dynamics

Equal Pay Act (1963)

required equal pay for equal work
significance: first major federal effort against wage discrimination

Title IX (1972)

Prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education
significance: transformed women’s educational and athletic opportunities

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974)

Prohibited discrimination in lending
significance: increased women’s financial independence

Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)

banned employment discrimination based on pregnancy
significance: recognized pregnancy as a workplace equality issue

National Women’s Political Caucus

organization dedicated to electing women
significance: increased women’s political representation

Shirley Chisholm

First black woman elected to Congress. First black woman to seek a major party presidential nomination
significance: landmark figure in representation politics

Legal Equality Doctrine

strategy emphasizing equal treatment under law regardless of sex
significance: guided many feminist legal reforms

Fairness Doctrine

FCC policy requiring balanced treatment of controversial public issues
significance: influenced media and political communication debates

Fairness Doctrine

FCC policy requiring balanced treatment of controversial public issues
significance: influenced media and political communication debates

Descriptive Representation

representatives physically/demographically resemble constituents
significance: “who is in office” focuses on whether leaders share the social background & experiences of constituents

Substantive Representation

representatives advocate for constituents’ interests
significance: “what do they support?”

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equality regardless of sex
significance: central debate over gender equality

Hayden Rider

Amendment protecting women’s special legal protections
significance: reflected debate between equality and protective legislation

Phyllis Schlafly

Conservative activist who opposed the ERA
significance: mobilized anti-feminist political activism

HIV/AIDS Crisis and Reagan Administration

Reagan administration was criticized for a slow federal response
significance: raised issues of sexuality, public health, and government responsibility

Helms Amendments

restrictions limiting federal support for certain sex education and HIV-prevention information
significance: reflected conservative influence on sexuality policy

Abstinence-Only Sex Education

Focuses on abstaining from sex rather than comprehensive sex education
significance: major culture war issue in gender politics

Dolores Huerta

labor organizer and co-founder of United Farm Workers
significance: linked gender, labor, immigration, and civil rights activism

Anita Hill Hearings

testified that supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her
Significance: brought workplace sexual harassment into national politics

Me Too Movement

mass movement against sexual harassment and assault
significance: transformed public conversations about gender and power

History of DEI in federal workforce

refers to efforts to increase participation and opportunity for historically excluded groups, including women, racial minorities, people with disabilities, veterans, and other underrepresented populations.

Tarana Burke

Activist who founded the Me-Too movement before it became nationally prominent
significance: centered survivors, esp women of color

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (1993)

Requires covered employers to provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for childbirth, adoption, illness, etc.
significance: recognized caregiving as a public policy issue rather than a private matter between family.

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (1994)

Federal Law providing funding and resources for investigating a prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking
significance: treated gender-based violence as a legal issue and marked a major victory for the government to be involved in protecting victims