Women in the late 19 th Century

Working Conditions 1890s: More than a million women joined work force Single Jobs depended on race/class/ethnicity Long hours, low pay, advancement limited Black women- domestic services Immigrant women- clustered in particular industries

Memorable Women Jane Addams & Lillian Wald: settlement houses  became centers of women’s activism and social reform Florence Kelly: led lobby for Illinois  anti-sweatshop law- protected women workers/ prohibited child labor Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Women and Economics- classic in feminist literature (Called on women to abandon their dependent status an contribute more to society through productive involvement in the economy.) Mary Baker Eddy: 1879 she founded Church of Christ, Scientist

Feminists demand the right to vote National American Women Suffrage Association – Elizabeth Cady Stanton – Susan B. Anthony new generation of woman suffragists – Carrie Chapman Catt

Suffrage continued… Wyoming territory: first unrestricted suffrage to women in 1869 General Federation of Women’s clubs Suffrage movement and other women’s organizations excluded black women – Ida B. Wells inspired black women to launch a nationwide anti-lynching crusade – Also helped establish the National Association of Colored Women in 1896

Women and Prohibition 1874: Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Women joined the fight against alcohol and helped bring about Prohibition

Other Important Facts Clara Barton helped establish the American Red Cross in 1881 By 1700 every 4th college graduate was a woman Kate Chopin and Emily Dickinson were literary figures Soaring divorce rates, the spreading practice of birth control, increasingly frank discussion of sexual topics