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Show MARK RANDALL 7H SIGNPOST JILL SMITH, SECRETARY FOR ASWSU, Is a working mother with one child at home and one on the way. "Working mother" trends change By Dona O'Steen Staff writer of Th9 Signpost The term "working mother" must be dispensed with initially since all mothers work regardless of whether they have an additional job outside of the home or not. Whether they have a "second" career, out of necessity or out of a desire to actualize their potential beyond the scope of household duties, the actual term defining these women is: "adouble-dipper." Some say as they look at where women are today: "We've come a long way baby - but not far enough." However, it has also been said: "to reflect on past hurdles and accomplishments can remind us of the strides that have been made despite roadblocks and encourage us that progress can be made if patience and persistence endures." What is the history that our women and mothers made for us to look back upon? What were their contributions? How did we arrive at where we are today? Women have been an integral part of the economic development of the United States since the journey of the colonial pioneers. During the influx of foreigners and the eventual European settlement on American ground and during the massive trek to the West, women demonstrated their active involvement in the shaping of the economy. Women put in long hours, working along side of their husbands as cultivators of the land. They planted crops and tended to livestock to provide for their family and to barter for goods that weren't produced at home. And among these duties also existed the responsibility (theirs alone) of child care, housework, spinning, weaving and sewing. They may have also spun, woven, or sewn for profit, besides doing so for their family's needs. No professional training was available for women at this time. However, they took on the roles of nurse, midwife, elementary school teacher, shopkeeper and innkeeper. These were some of the "outside" jobs that women took in order to gain an income or to serve their community voluntarily. They still had the jobs of wife, mother and housekeeper to attend to. Anne Hutchinson and her subtlty delivered sermons about the primacy of an "individual" conscience brought exile from the church and courts of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She discovered how asserting herself could prove devastating. Industrialization of the new nation and the Civil War provided added demands for women and also created opportunities that had not previously been probable. "Man" power shortages occurred because men (and some disguised women soldiers and nurses) left to support the war effort. Women were moving into the vacancies left by the departing soldiers. Also, during industrialization, women made up a quarter of the workforce. They were the lowest paid and were on the lowest status level. Some of these women would be left without husbands and would have to provide financial support for their children as well-alone. By the year 2000, women are predicted to make up 47 of the workforce. Attempts to organize women workers began in the 1820's. Women such as Sarah Bagley, a millworker, initiated what would result in a continuing commitment to the battle to achieve benefits and equal opportunity for women. The most renowned entrance of women into the public arena was during the onset of the struggle for the abolitionist cause. Anti-slavery organizations excluded women. Therefore, they formed their own alliances. Women were absolutely forbidden to give public speeches, so it was not a task to be completed with great ease or lack of barriers. Courageous women, such as Sarah Moore Grimke' and her sister Emily, took to the challenge of what appeared to be insurmountable. They received for their efforts physical assault and admonition. When addressing audiences they came to expect these sort of re sponses. However, they did not draw back. They were even to face opposition by those abolitionist groups they had assisted earlier. Countless others also took active and often dangerous roles as runners of the underground railroads. The contributions of black women during this time began to be noticed. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, among others, served to inspire a different view of a woman's "proper" place as well. Out of the ashes of the abolitionist efforts for freedom arose the women's rights movement. In 1848 at a convention at Seneca Falls, called to discuss abolitionist issues, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucre-tia C. Motts changed the tone of the meeting and it resulted in the formation of the Seneca Falls Declaration of Rights and Sentiments (modeled after the Declaration of Independence). This effectively set the stage for a defined picture of women's civil status and insistence upon full citizenship and equal economic opportunities. The suffragettes, as they were referred to, ceased to a certain degree their feminist pursuits during the Civil War to form the National Women's Loyal League to provide support in many areas for the North's cause and eventual victory. They re-entered the political realm on their own behalf. To their dismay, male associates they had worked side by side with during the abolitionist movement had abandoned them on this, their own cause. They were ridiculed and incessantly physically and mentally bombarded. Thisoccurred evenup to the moment of their long-awaited and celebrated success in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Women now were afforded suffrage: they now had a voice and were allowed to vote. The Civil War and consequent Reconstruction caused even more drastic changes in the Woman's position in society. Record numbers took employment outside the home. In the North and in the South factories were kept running because of female labor. Women were also taking government office jobs. And they also began to become quite prevalent in the teach- ing profession. In 1910 it was estimated that there were almost 7.5 million women in the job market. Seventy-nine percent were librarians, 19 percent were college professors, presidents and instructors, 6 percent were doctors, 3.1 percent were dentists and 1 percent were lawyers.Although the numbers of women entering the workforce continued to climb, the corporate world lacked a substantial number of women executives. This was true during the 50's and 60's and hasn't shown any significant increase until the past decade. A-survey by the Harvard Business Review in the late 60's found that women in management-type positions was so few and far between that they ultimately opted to discontinue the study. In 1975, fifty-five years after women's suffrage, only 17 women were among the 435 member Houseof Representatives and none were among the Senate of 100 members. As of 1975 only three women had ever been cabinet members in the country's entire history. During the late 70's women seem to take to their cause for equality once again, disgruntled with the slow progress of upward mobility. Women earning college degrees had risen from 22.7 to 42.3 percent in the 70's. This step forward along with the huge increase in the women's workforce led to the resurgence of demands for equal status, pay and advanced occupations.In 1966, the National Organization for Women and other feminist groups were formed, headed by those as determined as Betty Friedman. "Women's Liberation" seemed to capture public attention and become a blanket phrase to de- mot Sl:::::: is- Si scribe any event during the movement.An equal rights amendment : was finally passed in the Senate by . i an overwhelming vote - and at the end of 1975 had been ratified by "54 ", ' states. Women's organizations and sympathetic groups continued to lobby for passage and continue lobbying today. The voices are no longer screaming, but haCe"" ' softened to whisper. To many, tfc cause is not moot. More and more women are graduating from college in areas that were once male-dominated. In the 90' s, some mothers ac . -, going to work because they need the job to support themselves and '' their families, and some are going because they find it fulfilling; not so different reasons than before. It is predicted that women will make up almost half (47 percent) oF the workforce in the year 20QQ. Sixty-seven percent will be of childbearing age. And since women seem to be primarily responsible for child-care, companies are almost certainly required to cater to these requests. |
