Women\'s Rights in the Twentieth

WOMEN'S RIGHTS in the TWENTIETH CENTURY

Women's Rights in the 1920s:

In many ways, the achievement of female suffrage in 1920 after a long campaign for that right by women's groups beginning before the turn of the 20th century was the most important foundation of all the other rights and privileges that American women were to secure subsequently. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Supreme Court also struck down minimum wage laws that provided for lower minimum wages for women and the women's rights movement began another half-century-long long campaign for the right to reproductive choice through birth control and elective abortions that were illegal in most of the country.

In theory, women in states where abortion was illegal had the right to obtain abortions in states without such laws, but in practice, only comparatively wealthy women really had the opportunity to do so, or to obtain authorization from doctors within their home states for abortions necessary for medical reasons. The birth control pill was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration until 1960, and it would be another thirteen years before the Supreme Court recognized the right to reproductive choice by striking down all anti-abortion state laws.

Women in Contemporary American Society:

Beginning out of necessity immediately after the 1941 entrance of the United

States into World War II, American women began entering the workforce in large numbers, even taking on industrial and manufacturing jobs that had traditionally been dominated exclusively by men. However, many of the nearly 7 million women who

joined the workforce during the war were subsequently displaced by the return of soldiers in 1945; nevertheless, the wartime increase in female workers changed American society thereafter with respect to social attitudes about women in the workplace.

In 1963, the Equal Pay Act equalized pay between men and women by law, but did not apply to many types of employment such as administrators, professionals, and executives. The following year, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on gender (and race), in conjunction with the creation of the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce employment rights and redress violations of law in that regard.

Homophobia, Limitations of Equality, and Room for Future Improvement:

Today, American women enjoy most of the same rights and privileges and men, although certain inequalities still persist. In a practical sense, female wages still lag substantially behind many of their male counterparts in wages in non-regulated employment areas. One of the areas in which civil rights and privileges still reflect considerable inequality is in the realm of same-sex unions. While some states recognize the equality of same-sex couples and provide equal protection to homosexuals in matters

of discrimination in housing, employment, and traditional spousal rights, most states still do not treat same-sex relationships the same as heterosexual couples.