Women in the Workforce

Ask yourself if the rights and equality of the women in the workforce has changed as much as it should have over the last eighty eight years and then ask why. The women were given the right to vote in August 1920 after years of protests, but even then it took another fifty years before all fifty states had it written into law and practiced. The Second World War provided another opportunity for women to crush the belief that they could not perform and maintain the work or work load of a man by doing their jobs. Even though they performed the work at a level equal, and sometimes more proficient than a man, the jobs were handed back over to the returning military men with only a fraction of change in making these jobs more available to women. Now knowing they could do a man’s job, bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan to support a family, was now know throughout the country and world. In the 1960’s another spark ignited the women cause for equality with the National Woman’s party and others in congress. The sixties on into the early seventies may be remembered as the era of Love and Peace, but I would have to say it was one of the most violent and productive times of the century. The addition of Sex Discrimination to the Civil Rights Bill at the last minute added another chapter in our history.
Early in 1919 the House of Representatives passed the 19th amendment by a vote of 304 to 90, and the Senate approved it 56 to 25. Within the government when a law is to pass it has to go through the House of Representatives and then the Senate, but this bill met great resistance by a majority of those members. It was even rejected at one point until it was brought back to life because of demonstrations outside of the White House and the ones who were voting against the bill somehow managed to lose in the upcoming elections. Supposedly a