Womens History Month: Changes in the workplace – WNCT

GREENVILLE, N.C. (Stacker.com) Mark the year 2059 on your calendarthats when data shows that women willfinally achieve equal payto their male counterparts.

Its hard to believe that closing the gender wage gap will take nearly a century after the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963.In 1960, women only earned about61 cents for every $1 that a man took home, a number that ticked upto 82 cents by 2018but that still leaves another 18 cents to go overall.

The wage gap isworse for women of color: Among women working full-time jobs in the U.S., Black women are paid 62 cents, Native American women 57 cents, and Latinas 54 cents for every dollar paid to white men, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Researchersblame the gender wage gapon a variety of reasons, ranging from differences in the industries women and men work in, racist hiring and discriminatory promotion practices, discrepancies in hours worked, job segregation, and years of experience. The government also does little to create policies making workplaces and institutions like schools more supportive of women.Systemic discrimination against working women in the U.S. has put them at a severe disadvantage since before the founding of the country.

The colonies enacted laws that prevented women workers frommaintaining control over their earningsas far back as 1769. A lack of suffrage prevented women from voting for politicians who could bring forth more equitable policies until 1920. Wage codes from the National Recovery Administration, established in 1933, set lower minimum wages for women than for men, even though they were performing the same work. To top it off, women continue to endure sexual harassment and assault in the workplace and takeon the second shift of being both workers and mothers, just as they have throughout American history.

Despite these struggles, women have managed to achieve plenty of success in their careers, becoming Fortune 500 CEOs and going to space.Stackerlooked at research from news outlets (Time, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Entrepreneur), think tanks (McKinsey, the Brookings Institution), government agencies (the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Park Service), and organizations that focus on womens rights (TimesUp, Planned Parenthood) to learn about the history of women in the workplace. The resulting timeline shows both the challenges and triumphs of women climbing the corporate ladder and fighting for equity along the way.

Click through to learn more about American women in the workplace, from 1765 to today.

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The Daughters of Liberty, the countrys earliestsociety of working women, was formed in 1765. They went on to demonstrate against the Stamp and Townshend acts.

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The 13 colonies adopted English laws thatprevented female workersfrom keeping the income they earned in 1769. The system also banned women from owning property.

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Abigail Adams brought issues of gender equality to the White House in 1797. She emphasized the importance of educating girls and appealed forequal rights for women and men.

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Mary Kies of Connecticut became the first woman in the nation to begranted a patentin 1809. She received the patent for an innovative straw and silk braiding technique that advanced hat-making.

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More than100 young women weaversblocked entry to a Rhode Island textile mill in 1824, protesting their employers plan to cut wages and increase the length of the workday for women between 15 and 30 years old. The demonstration is considered the countrys first factory strike.

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TheUnited Tailoresses of New Yorkwas formed in 1825. It was the countrys first union comprised entirely of women. In 1831, the union went on strikedemandingfairer wages. After a bitter struggle, during whichmale trade unionsrefused to supporttheir female counterparts, the women returned to work without higher wagesBut they did set the stage for future union work in the textile industry.

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In response to an extension in the workday, women workers formed the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association in 1844. It is considered one of the first successful organizations of women workers in the country. The group helped reduce the workday atcotton mills to 10 hours(down from 12 or 13 hours) and make their mills safer and more sanitary.

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Maria Mitchellwas the countrys first professional woman astronomer. She was also the first American to discover a comet in 1847. She helped pave the way for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers.

[Pictured: Astronomer Maria Mitchell with her astronomy class outside the observatory at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.]

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The year 1869 markedmajor advancementsfor women in the legal profession. That year, Arabella Mansfield became the first female lawyer, and Ada Kepley graduated from law school, making her the first woman to do so in the country.

[Pictured: Belva Ann Lockwood, the first female lawyer to practice before the United States Supreme Court.]

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The Cigar Makers International Union beganadding women to its ranksin 1867. It was the first national union to ditch its males-only mandate.

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Women shoe workers established the countrys firstnationwide union for women workers, the Daughters of St. Crispin, in 1869. It aimed to represent the diversity of skills in the stitcher workforce.

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Congress passed a law grantingfemale federal employees equal payto their male counterparts in 1872. Unfortunately, it did not extend to the state or local level, nor did it apply to the private sector, so many women workers did not receive this protection.

[Pictured: Victoria Woodhull, the candidate in 1872 from the Equal Rights Party, supporting womens suffrage and equal rights.]

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Anne Freeman became thefirst female patent examinerat the U.S. Patent Office in 1872. The milestone may have encouraged more women to apply for patents for their inventions, according to the National Womens History Museum.

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The Supreme Court ruled thatwomen could be excludedfrom practicing law in 1873. One Justice on the case reasoned that practicing law could disrupt the respective spheres of man and woman and her duties as a mother and wife.

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A group of more than 3,000 washerwomen, the majority of whom were Black, staged a large-scale strike in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1881, demanding fair pay for their strenuous jobs. While the threat of a costly business license requirement and arrests of strikers mitigated their efforts to set a standard wage for laundry, thedemonstration was evidenceof the power of low-wage, African American, female workers to disrupt the status quo, according to Rosalind Bentley of The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

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The American Federation of Labor appointedMary Kenney OSullivanas the first woman to serve as a national general organizer in 1892. During her time in that role, she organized workers in the garment industry, along with shoe workers, carpet weavers, binders, and printers.

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WhenAnna Bissells husband died, shetook over the Bissell sweeper company in 1889 and became Americas first female CEO. She helped promote workers compensation policies and employee pension plans.

[Pictured: The Bissell carpet sweeper invented by Melville and Anna Bissell in 1876.]

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In 1898, Charlotte Perkins Gilman published Women and Economics. She argued that women must become economically independent from men.

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Two women social reformersJane Addams and Josephine Lowellfounded the National Consumers League in 1899. The organization leveraged the power of consumers to push for minimum wage for women and other workers rights.

[Pictured: Jane Addams, American social reformer and feminist.]

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New York state passed the Married Womens Property Act in 1848, which gave married women a degree of control over their own income and property. By 1900,every statehad enacted similar legislation, according to the National Womens History Alliance.

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Madam C.J. Walker created her hair care product company in 1905. The business, which was focused on the needs of African American women, would help Walker become Americas firstself-made female millionaire.

[Pictured: A photograph of Madam C.J. Walker driving, 1911.]

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Around 20,000 shirtwaist industry workers, most of whom were Yiddish-speaking women who immigrated to the U.S., went on strike on Nov. 23, 1909. The largest demonstration by women up until that point, theUprising of 20,000forced the largely male leaders of the industry to revise their entrenched prejudices against organizing women, according to Tony Michels of the Jewish Womens Archive.

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A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York Citykilled 146 people, the majority of whom were women, in 1911. Considered one of the worst industrial disasters in the nations history, it led to stricter fire codes at workplaces. It also helped spark the empowerment of women in the workforce.

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Massachusetts adopted aminimum wagein 1912the first state in the country to do so. The law only applied to women and children.

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Women saw political career opportunities open up to them in 1917 when Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress. Since then, the U.S. House of Representatives has had a total of397 womenjoin its ranks.

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Women filled factory jobs left vacant by men during World War I. By 1918, munitions factories became thebiggest employer of women workers.

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The New York State Court of Appeals ruled that physicians were allowed toprescribe birth controlfor health reasons in 1918. Expansion of access to contraceptives has helped womenmake wage gainsand advance in the workplace, according to Planned Parenthood.

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The Women in Industry Service released the first edition of theStandards for the Employment of Women in Industryin 1918, using input from both employers and women laborers. They were updated and republished multiple times and eventually helped form labor laws at the national and state level.

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Female laborers from the U.S. and abroad formed the International Congress of Working Women in 1919. That year, they met in Washingtond D.C., for 10 days to discuss labor standards and benefits, such as maternity insurance.

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The passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote. With a stake in politics, women could now vote for leaders who could help them achieve equality at work.

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The Department of Labor established aWomens Bureau in 1920. The bureau was responsible for creating standards and policies focused on the welfare of women workers, improving their working conditions, and fostering more career opportunities for women.

[Pictured: Mary Anderson, head of Womens Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, at her desk, Washington D.C.]

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The first version of theEqual Rights Amendmentwas drafted in 1923. With support from the National Womens Party, Amelia Earhart, and professional women workers, the amendment aimed to grant men and women equal rights, including in the workplace.

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The Economy Act of 1932 prohibited the government fromemploying more than one personper family. Many women workers were ultimately let go.

[Pictured: President Hoover with the New York Young Republicans after signing the Economy Act of 1932.]

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The Great Depression left more than 2 million women out of work at the start of 1933. The struggles of women and Black workers during this time went unrecognized by the government and much of the public, who thought of workers as solely white men.

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Established in 1933, the National Recovery Administration made pay discrepancy between men and women an official policy. Around 25% of its codes established lower minimum wages for women workers compared to their male counterparts.

[Pictured: President Roosevelt affixes his signature to the Industrial Control-Public Works bill, otherwise known as the National Recovery Act.]

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Frances Perkins took on the role of Secretary of Labor in 1933. The first woman to hold that position, Perkins was instrumental in thecreation of Social Security, as well as the New Deal.

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Mary McLeod Bethune founded theNational Council for Negro Womenin 1935. The organization helped push for an end to job discrimination, sexism, and racist policies, according to the Labor Heritage Foundation.

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In 1936, a Gallup poll askedpeople whether married women should work full-time outside of the home. Just18% of respondents approvedof the notion, with the majority of both men and women signalingdisapproval. Those numbers would all but flip when the same question was asked in the 1990s.

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Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. It established a minimum wage for all workersregardless of gender.

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The Saturday Evening Post published the now-iconic Norman Rockwell cover image ofRosie the Riveteron May 29, 1943. The concept of the character, which had been around for at least a year, helped inspire women to take on traditionally masculine jobs to help with the war effort.

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Womens History Month: Changes in the workplace - WNCT