Published: May 30, 2024
Early American society was based on English Common Law in which women had few civil rights. As a married unit, wives relinquished property rights to their husbands. Shortly after the beginning of the American Revolution, states passed laws denying free women the right to vote. By the mid-1800s, activists spearheaded the Women’s Rights Movement with the primary goal to secure the right to vote. Although all male citizens gained the legal right to vote under the 15th Amendment in 1870, women would not universally gain this right until the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. Entering the mid-1900s, Second Wave Feminism renewed the Women’s Rights Movement with the goal to further push for civil rights. Women demanded equal pay and opportunities in the workplace, access to education, and the right to make one’s own medical decisions. By the 1990s, Third Wave Feminism continued many of the same economic, political, and social goals as previous movements. A primary difference was inclusivity and exploring intersectionality of women’s rights.
Within an economics or financial literacy class, the following historical examples provide context to help students understand economic issues that women face today:
Notable Events
January 1845
Lowell Female Labor Reform Association
“This organization, which collaborated and fundraised with other local labor groups like the New England Workingmen’s Association and New England Labor Reform League, dedicated itself to advancing the interests of Lowell’s female work force at the state level.”
April 7, 1848
Married Woman’s Property Act
New York was the first state to legally protect the property rights of married women. Beforehand, married women had to relinquish property rights to their husbands.
July 19, 1848
Seneca Falls Convention
“The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention in the United States. Held in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, the meeting launched the women’s suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote.”
December 10, 1869
Wyoming Women’s Suffrage Act
“Wyoming’s territorial legislature passed a law granting women the right to vote, and Gov. John Campbell signed the bill into law on Dec. 10. The following year, in March, women first served on juries in Laramie and on Sept. 6, 1870, also in Laramie, Louisa Swain became the first Wyoming woman to cast a ballot under the world’s first law granting women equal and unrestricted voting rights with men.”
June 5, 1920
Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor
“The Women’s Bureau was established in the U.S. Department of Labor on June 5, 1920, by Public Law No. 66-259. The law gave the Bureau the duty to ‘formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.’ It also gave the Bureau the authority to investigate and report to the U.S. Department of Labor upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of women in industry. The Women’s Bureau is the only federal agency mandated to represent the needs of wage-earning women in the public policy process.”
August 18, 1920
19th Amendment to the Constitution Ratified
Women were granted the right to vote in the United States.
December 5, 1935
National Council of Negro Women
“Founded in 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was the first national coalition of African American women’s organizations. The most influential national women’s organization during the civil rights movement at the time, the NCNW represented 850,000 members.”
June 22, 1944
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill)
"Although the GI Bill extended benefits to all veterans regardless of gender or race, it was easier for some people to collect than others. In many cases, benefits were administered by an all-white Veterans Administration at the state and local level. In an era of rampant racial and gender discrimination, African Americans and women struggled to receive higher education or loans.”
June 10, 1963
Equal Pay Act
“Congress passe[d] the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination. The Department of Labor [was] given authority to enforce the new law.”
October 13, 1967
Executive Order 11375, Affirmative Action
“The Federal Women’s Program (FWP) was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11375 and added sex as a prohibited form of discrimination. The FWP has a primary responsibility to identify barriers to the hiring and advancement of women and to enhance employment opportunities for women.”
June 21, 1973
Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations
“The Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of sex-segregated classified advertisements (ads specifying the desired sex of the applicant for the position), finding that the state had leeway in regulating commercial speech and that an ordinance banning employment discrimination did not violate the First Amendment.”
September 26, 1969
Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive
“The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rule[d] in Bowe v. Colgate Palmolive Co. that an employer cannot divide jobs into categories reserved for one sex or the other.”
January 13, 1970
Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co.
The United States Court of Appeals “determined that a job that is ‘substantially equal’ in terms of tasks, but not necessarily in the job description or title, is protected by the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Therefore, women cannot receive lower wages for a job with similar tasks to those of men.”
January 25, 1971
Phillips v. Martin Marietta
This case “ruled that not hiring mothers of preschool-aged children while hiring fathers of preschool-aged children violated Title VII; [this was] the first sex discrimination case to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
June 23, 1972
Title IX of ESEA
Title IX established that "no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
September 21, 1974
Women’s Educational Equity Act
As an amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, WEEA “establishe[d] the Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs and set forth the composition of such Council. [The act] authorizes the Commissioner of Education to make grants to, and enter into contracts with, public agencies, private nonprofit organizations, and individuals for activities designed to provide educational equity for women in the United States.”
September 22, 1974
Housing and Community Development Act of 1974
“Section 109 of the HCD Act of 1974, Title I, prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, and sex within Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs or activities.”
October 28, 1974
Equal Credit Opportunity Act
The ECOA “prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, because an applicant receives income from a public assistance program, or because an applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.”
October 31, 1978
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
June 19, 1986
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson
“In the majority opinion, Justice William Rehnquist affirmed that allegations of sexual harassment under Title VII may include hostile work environment claims and are not limited to instances where there has been a ‘tangible loss’ of an ‘economic character.’ The Court thus decided that a sexual harassment claim involving a hostile work environment is actionable under Title VII. In developing general guidelines for determining if behavior constitutes sexual harassment, the Supreme Court noted that, most significantly, the plaintiff must have been subjected to unwelcome sexual advances. The Court added that the correct inquiry is not whether a plaintiff’s participation was voluntary but whether it was unwelcome.”
September 13, 1988
Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara County
“The Transportation Agency, Santa Clara, California promoted Diane Joyce to road dispatcher over Paul Johnson. Both candidates were qualified for the job. As an affirmative action employer, the Agency took into account the sex of the applicants in making the promotion decision.” “The Court affirmed the promotion procedures of the Agency. Justice Brennan argued that it was not unreasonable to consider sex as one factor among many in making promotion decisions, and that the Agency's actions did not create an absolute barrier to the advancement of men (a quota system did not exist).”
October 25, 1988
Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988
“The Women's Business Ownership Act was passed in 1988 with the help of the National Association Women Business Owners (NAWBO). H.R. 5050 addressed the needs of women in business by giving women entrepreneurs recognition, resources, and by eliminating discriminatory lending practices by banks that favored male business owners.”
March 21, 1991
International Union, UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc.
This ruling barred women of childbearing age from certain jobs due to potential harm to a fetus constituted sex discrimination under Title VII.
January 29, 2009
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act
“This law overturned the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), which severely restricted the time period for filing complaints of employment discrimination concerning compensation.” “The Act states the EEOC's longstanding position that each paycheck that contains discriminatory compensation is a separate violation regardless of when the discrimination began.”
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