women in 1865

civil war employment

• temporarily entered agricultural labour, replacing men

• many worked as nurses

  • temporary role in healthcare

civil war other progress

• women gained organisational experience through war work

  • strengthened networks used data in suffrage and reform campaigns

• some women gained greater personal independence during male absence  

civil war on-going problems

• after 1865, women were pushed back into domestic roles 

• married women rarely allowed to work

  • employer and State restrictions 

• limited access to professions such as law, medicine and higher education 

growth of industry employment

• expansion of factory jobs for unmarried women in textiles, garments, food processing- for women products

• 1870: 13% of unmarried women worked 

• 1900: women formed 17% of total workforce

• emergence of white collar jobs typing etc.

  • by 1890s was seen as a respected job for women 

• teaching librarians secretaries 

  • 949,000 female workers by 1900 

growth of industry other progress

• urbanisation and new technology (refrigerators, plumbing, heating) reduced domestic burden for middle-class married women 

• 50% of graduates female By 1900 

• growth of a female middle class who could delay marriage and pursue limited careers 

growth of industry on-going problems

• factory women (especially immigrants) faced low wages, 70-hour workweek, unsafe conditions

• sweatshops exploited married women

• no federal or state workplace protection → laissez-faire attitude

• mechanisation pushed many women out of agricultural labour

westward expansion

• women in the West worked in multiple roles: cleaners, nurses, cooks, teachers → broader than in the East

• Homestead Act 1862 allowed some unmarried and widowed women to own land

• 1869 Wyoming County → women can vote

westward expansion other progress

gain a greater sense of independence in isolated homesteads 

westward expansion on-going problems

• extremely harsh living conditions

  • loneliness, depression, poverty

• high female mortality due to lack of medical care especially childbirth

• minimal contact with wider reform movements

women had right to abortion

until 1873 Comestock laws

changes in industry/economy

• post–Civil War industrial growth opened new jobs for unmarried women, especially in factories, textiles, garment making and food processing

• rise of big business, manufacturing, and urbanisation created large numbers of low-skill jobs

• by 1870, 13% of unmarried women worked outside the home; by 1900, women formed 17% of the entire workforce

• expansion of clerical work (typewriters, telephones). Young educated women moved into offices, shops, and stores

• massive growth of white-collar roles: by 1900, c. 949,000 women working as teachers, secretaries, librarians, telephone operators (3.4 million by 1920)

• mechanisation of farming reduced rural labour needs; pushed women to migrate to cities for industrial work

• growth of sweatshops in urban tenements exploited poor and immigrant married women

• lack of legal protection: federal and state governments followed laissez-faire policies, so employers could exploit workers freely

• middle-class lifestyle transformed by new consumer goods: indoor plumbing, central heating, refrigerators, washing machines

• suburbanisation: better transport let middle-class families move to suburbs

• family size fell (average birth rate dropped to 3.56 by 1900): fewer children, more time for education and family life

• education expanded: by 1900, half of high-school graduates were female; more women entered higher education

benefits for women

• far more paid employment opportunities for unmarried women

• access to safer, cleaner white-collar work with higher status than factory labour

• some women could delay marriage and pursue teaching, clerical work, and social work

• middle-class married women gained lighter domestic workloads thanks to new household technologies

• smaller families reduced daily labour and gave women more time for family education and personal development.

• growth of female education meant more women were literate, skilled, and employable

• Civil War offered early experience of women working outside the home (nursing, agriculture)

• Homestead Act (1862) gave some women the right to own land in their own names

• increasing numbers of women gained economic independence before marriage

problems that remained or were created

• married women were barred from many workplaces by law or employer policy; strong expectation they should give up work once married

• separate spheres ideology remained dominant: women expected to be wives and mothers first

• women earned far less than men across all sectors

• no career ladder: white-collar roles for women stopped at clerical work; management remained male

• immigrant, Hispanic, African-American, and poor white women faced harsh, dangerous factory conditions, long hours, and extremely low pay (70 hours for $5)

• sweatshops exploited married women and children

• rural married women on the Plains suffered isolation, poverty, high childbirth mortality, and heavy labour.

• medicine and law remained largely closed to women; universities restricted female admissions

• divorce rate rising by 1900 worried defenders of traditional roles

• Laissez-faire governments refused to regulate workplaces, leaving women with no legal workplace protections

• many women still saw marriage and home as the main goal, meaning the “women’s rights” issue remained limited to a small, mostly middle-class reform circle

white urban/ rural middle class

social	economic
smaller families (average birth rate fell to 3.56 by 1900) improved home life due to indoor plumbing, central heating, refrigerators, washing machines more free time for children’s education and leisure growing suburban life as transport improved rising number of educated women, though many still saw education as preparation for marriage social expectations still centred on “separate spheres”	middle-class married women rarely worked outside the home domestic workload reduced but not replaced with career opportunities some women delayed marriage to work in teaching, clerical work, or social work but no real access to higher professions (law, medicine still blocked) economic security relied on husband’s income

white rural

social	economic
harsh, isolated lifestyles on the Plains; loneliness was widespread large families common among rural and farming families high childbirth mortality; little healthcare access heavy physical burden: cooking, cleaning, childcare, nursing, farm labour all done by women few educational opportunities and very restricted social life	farming became increasingly mechanised and male-dominated; women pushed out of productive labour workload remained huge but unpaid limited access to paid employment beyond the farm women contributed to household survival but gained no financial independence poverty common among farming families

immigrant

social	economic
lived in overcrowded, unsanitary city ghettos often had very large families due to cultural and religious expectations faced discrimination and cultural isolation children frequently pulled into work to help the family survive	forced into the hardest, lowest-paid employment: factories, laundries, bakeries, domestic service sweatshops were common: 70 hours a week for $5 married immigrant women often worked out of economic desperation zero legal protection—laissez-faire governments let employers exploit them no route to better jobs or white-collar work

black

social	economic
faced racial discrimination on top of gender inequality segregation restricted every aspect of life—housing, education, public services limited access to education and skilled training many still lived in rural poverty long after slavery ended	concentrated in the lowest-paid domestic and agricultural jobs fewer opportunities in factories; many employers refused to hire Black women wages extremely low; exploitation common. almost no chance of moving into clerical or white-collar work rural Black women often worked in agriculture under harsh conditions with no rights

comestock laws 1873

prohibited the distribution of contraceptives and information about birth control

1872

Victoria Woodhall runs for president alongside Fredrick Douglass as VP

1972

Shirley Chisholm runs for President

when do AA women actually get the vote

1965

‘the maternal commonwealth’

ideology emphasising women's roles as moral guardians and nurturers within society, advocating for women's rights and social reforms

women civil rights before ww1

• had no political power

  • can’t vote

  • Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Johnson supported it so increased vote for Democrat

• most had no aspirations to achieve it

  • children