|
First 100 years ago was 1911, the 1910 census clearly showed that more people lived in rural areas then urban areas at that time period (The 1920 census was the first census where more people lived in Urban Areas then Rural Areas, thus the switch occurred sometime in the 1910s).
On most farms (Which was where the vast majority of rural people lived, through we must also remember the vast numbers of miners, loggers and rural industry workers of the time period) women could be viewed as staying home and taking care of the home and the kids, but so did their husband, for BOTH parents were active in working the farm (Along with the Children). This was "Normal" rural farm life, no kept women there.
As to Collages, women were approaching the numbers of male doctors attending Medical School (Which would reverse after about 1930), you had women lawyers (William Jennings Byran, three time Democratic Candidate for President was married to a collage educated women who later became a Lawyer, through she did not practice, but her daughter had the honor of serving in the House of Representatives from 1924-1934 and later was Ambassador to Denmark). Women were active in Social activities and working, before AND after marriage (Like today, the income of men was NOT enough to maintain a family, a family needed income from BOTH PARENTS to be able to raise a family).
While they were women who were stay at home wives, they were as rare in 1911 as they are today. Secretaries had become an almost female only employment group with the introduction of the Typewriter in 1869, moving a vast number of women into the typing pools starting in the 1870s and beyond.
Annie Oakley, while a Star in the late 1800s, stayed performing till about 1911, and afterward was most proud of teaching other women on how to shoot (Annie Oakley's husband was her manager, thus both worked together in their performance to the public).
My point is simple, 100 years ago women were roughly in the same employment situation as they are today. We have a better educated group of women workers, but we also have a better educated group of male workers (Education of women tended to fall behind men by about 20 years, i.e. what most men did in 1940, most women were doing by 1960. This 20 year drag existed till the 1980s, when women equaled and then passed men in education achievement).
Now women had almost caught up with men by 1900, then you slowly started to see a decline. Going back to Annie Oakley for example, she was less concerned about getting the vote then being treated as an equal when it came to business contracts (Something most other women found shocking, they wanted the vote, more then fair treatment in terms of contracts). In many ways women getting the vote in 1921, was the point the rest of the women rights movement reversed, as women showed more and more leg in the 1920s, women started to become viewed as more sex objects then people. In the 1930s the situation changed, women were forced out of the work force, so they jobs could be taken by a man who had to support a family (at least that was the excuse for terminating women in the 1930s). This reversed during WWII, but even at the height of female employment during WWII, the line was the jobs was only temporary, as soon as the men came home from overseas, the women would return to the home and give up their jobs for their men.
Yes, it was the 1950s when you see women, for the first time in history, being viewed as something that was kept by her husband, and kept her husband's house and children. That was NOT the norm in rural America during the time period when more people lived on the farm then in the Cities, but became more and more the rule as more and more people moved to the Cities to earn a living. This reversed starting in the 1960s, as the number of men coming into the work force increased (and thus lead to a drop in wages), immigration was reformed to permit more immigrants (Which also lead to a drop in wages) and the Vietnam war ended (And thus releasing even more men into the work force, and forcing down wages). To overcome this drop in wages, women entered the work force to compensate for the drop in the father of their children's income. This became the new norm under Reagan as the Unions, which had kept worker wages up during the 1970s, were broken by Reagan' handling of the PATCO Strike, i.e. Reagan fired them, breaking the unions and leading to even more wage cuts. The Collapse of the Steel industry helped in this decline in wages.
Thus by 2000, we had returned to the concept of both spouses working that was the norm in 1900. By 1911, it had NOT yet passed by. Thus the comment should be 50-60 years ago, NOT 100 years ago. It is the period 50-60 years ago these people want to return to as to division of work between the sexes, but they also want to return to wages of 100 years. The problem is the wages of 100 years could not support one spouse keeping another. That is the problem of conservatives, they want to return to two different periods, with realizing the two periods are NOT compatible. It is one or the other. Men must earn enough money for their wives NOT be forced to work (the concept of the 1950s which the GOP reject as to wages) OR wages must be drop (Something the GOP Support) but at the level the GOP wants, the wife MUST work for the family to have enough money to survive. The GOP can NOT have it both ways, but that is what the GOP appear to want. A never never land that existed only in their mind NOT in reality.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
