Working Womyn in the 20th Century
... for blacks, was extended to protect the rights of womyn. In 1972, Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. Things were looking pretty good. Many in the womyn's movement questioned social institutions and moral values, and said that most supposed differences between men and womyn result not from biology but from culture and training. They believed that the English language itself, by reflecting traditional male dominance in its word forms, worsened the problem. Some experimented with new kinds of female-male relations, including the sharing of domestic roles, and attention was given to consciousness raising to make womyn aware of their common disadvantages. In November 1977, the largest convention of women ever held in the United States met in Houston, Texas. Supported by both private and government interests, it ratified the feminist report drawn up by the Presidents Commission, which was intended to serve as an official guide to governmental action. Other objectives for many in the womyn's movement included equal pay for equal work, federal support for day-care centers, recognition of lesbian rights, continued legalization of abortion, and the focus of serious attention on the problems of rape, wife and child beating, and discrimination against older and minority womyn. But by the June 1982 deadline, the Equal Rights Amendment had been ratified by only 35 of the required 38 states. This failure reflected a division among womyn as to what they wanted. Many womyn feared that ratification would mean the loss of alimony and would force military service on womyn. A strong conservative reaction also questioned the idea of federal support for day care and abortion, and saw lesbianism as immoral and destructive to family values. Progress for womyn was real, but many saw it as a mixed blessing, and womyn found that they didn’t all agree on the same things. In 1986, almost 48 million womyn, aged 16 and over, were employed, representing about 44 percent of the total work force. Approximately half of all womyn over 16 years of age were employed; 57% of all black women and 50 percent of all Hispanic womyn were in the labor force. About half of the working womyn were married with husbands present, and over half had children under 18 years old. Working mothers with children under 6 years old more than tripled from 1950 to 1986. Despite the increasing number of working womyn and more than 15 years of equal opportunity legislation, womyn in the early 1980s, as in 1900, worked in a few types of jobs and generally earned less than men. Some 33% of the employed women were clerical workers, and 23% were in the low-paying service category. Only about 17% were professionals, and 10% were managers. Womyn were further segregated within certain occupations and industries: 94% of registered nurses, 69% of retail sales clerks, 98% of secretary-typists, and 96% of private household workers were womyn. Employees in clothing and textile industries, telephone communication, health services, and local education were predominantly womyn. On the other hand, even though progress can be frustratingly slow, American womyn today are holding jobs of greater diversity than ever before. A 1995 study by Rutgers University Law School professor Alfred Blumrosen, a Labor Department consultant on affirmative action, estimates many women wouldn’t have the jobs that they have today if it were not for the inroads made by affirmative action. And in the last twenty years, many more womyn have entered the new high-tech industries. By 1986, for example, 34% of all computer programmers were womyn. Womyn are also making slow but steady progress in entering nontraditional fields such as engineering and construction work, as well as medicine and law, and elected and appointed political positions. In the mid-1980s, many womyn worked because of economic necessity: 26% were single; 16% were widowed, divorced, or separated; and 29% were married to men who earned less than $15,000 a year. A good number of womyn have entered the labor force for non-economic reasons, also — especially college-educated womyn. The womyn's rights movement has made some progress in other parts of the world, as well. Aided by the United Nations Commission on the Status o...