What were some of the effects of the women's movement in regard to jobs?
1 Answer
The women's liberation movement of the 1960s and early 1970s in the U.S. eventually ended the practice of restricting hiring by gender, opened men-only colleges to women students, required schools to provide athletic opportunities for girls, and raised the awareness of millions of Americans of the consequences of gender restrictions.
Explanation:
The United States was founded by white men in 1789 through the Constitution. This document provided for white men who owned property to be able to vote in democratic elections and control their own destiny. This was about 6% of the population in 1789.
The Constitution did not provide any rights for women or for men of other races. Women, black men, Asian men, and American Indian men had to wait between 79 and 170 years for voting rights and other rights to be extended to them.
In the nineteenth century, women fought for the right to vote, but they did not get it until 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. This finally gave women a voice in state and national decisions.
But women still could not own land, be parties to contracts, inherit, establish credit in their own names, or work outside their homes without the permission of their husbands or fathers. This situation lasted until the 1970s when it was legally changed. But today, in 2016, some women are still controlled by their husbands, boyfriends, brothers, or fathers, especially women who are Muslims, Mormons, members of extreme Protestant religions, Hmong, and Latinas.
The women's movement led to court decisions and legislation that opened more of the United States culture to women, but the culture remains closed in some ways. Only recently have women been allowed to apply for many of the jobs in the armed forces. Only recently have women been promoted to the rank of general.
The women's movement led to court decisions and legislation that allowed women to make decisions about their health care, to apply for credit cards and bank loans, to sign mortgage documents, to inherit property, to own property in their own names, to obtain divorces, to hold custody of their children, to be considered for many types of jobs, and to receive education equal to men's education.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981, was unable to get a job as a lawyer after she graduated from law school during the 1960s. She had to take a job as a secretary, because men did not believe that women could be lawyers.
And there are many other examples like this. But Socratic wants to keep answers short, so I will stop here.
