Pre-1920’s, pre Machinal: 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, 15th Amendment (universal male suffrage)- and 1886 AERA (written by Lucy Stone, Fredrick Douglas, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, looking for universal suffrage that did not come to pass, contributing to the rift between a largely white feminist movement and civil rights movement), Industrial Revolution, Suffrage Movement, WWI
- 1920- 19th Amendment Ratified, Women given the right to vote
- 1923 Alice Paul introduced the Equal Rights Act
- Did not pass in Congress until 1972, but fell short of ratification in 1982
- 1929 Sophie Treadwell-Machinal
- 1930’s The Great Depression and a retreat of vocal defenders of Women’s Rights
- 1932 National Recovery Act: Only one member of the family can hold a government job, many women are put out of work
- 1936 Birth Control made legal for medicinal purposes
- 1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act: minimum wage regardless of sex.
- (1939)/1941-1945- WWII Global dates and American Involvement, women are needed to work jobs previously held by men
- 1945 WWII ends, women expected to go back to the home and give up the independence of working
- 1947 Women allowed to serve on juries in U.S.
- 1950’s and 1960’s Civil Rights Movement
- 1953 The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
- 1955 Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man
- 1960’s-early1980’s Women’s Lib movement
- 1963 The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
- 1963 Equal Pay Act signed into law-same pay regardless of sex, or race, religion, or national origin
- 1964 Civil Rights Act
- 1964 Margaret Chase Smith runs for Republican Presidential Primary
- 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut established a “right to privacy” for Americans, striking anti-birth control laws
- 1966 National Organization for Women (NOW) founded
- 1972 Shirley Chisolm makes presidential bid, defeated in the Democratic Primary by George McGovern
- 1973 Roe v. Wade legalized abortion as being under the “right to privacy”
- 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act banned discrimination against pregnant women in the workforce
- 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor first female Supreme Court Justice
- 1984 Geraldine Ferraro first woman included on the Presidential ticket of a major party
- 1989 Webster v. Reproductive Health Services allowed states the right to deny public funding for abortions and prevented public hospitals from performing abortions
- 1991 Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment
- 1992 “Year of the Woman” Unprecedented number of women elected to public offices in U.S.
- 1992 Bill Clinton elected President- First Lady Hillary Clinton
- 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsberg second woman nominated to Supreme Court
- 1994 Violence Against Women Act expanded treatment and advocacy services for women who are victims of abuse
- 1997 Madeleine Albright first female secretary of state
- 2005 Hillary Clinton elected to U.S. Senate-first First Lady elected to public office
- 2005 Condoleezza Rice first black female Secretary of State
- 2006 Supreme Court Upholds ban on “partial-birth” abortion
- 2006 Tarana Burke created “Me Too” movement to “empower through empathy” women of color who have been victims of sexual misconduct
- 2007 Nacy Pelosi first female speaker of the house
- 2008 Hillary Clinton first First Lady to run for President
- 2009 Sonia Sotomayor nominated to Supreme Court, first Latina woman to serve third woman overall
- 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act allowed victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government
- 2010 Affordable Care Act ensured no-copay birth control and required insurance companies to cover preventative treatment
- 2010 Elena Kagan fourth woman to serve on Supreme Court
- 2013 Violence Against Women Act Reauthorized to cover Native American women, lesbians and immigrants
- 2015 Marriage Equality signed into national law
- 2016 Hillary Clinton first woman to win major party candidacy in U.S.
- 2016 Hillary Clinton lost Presidential Election
- 2017 between 3-5 million people participated in over 400 marches nationwide to stand in solidarity with Women’s Rights
- 2017 Andrea Jenkins first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in U.S.
- 2017 Danica Roem first openly transgender woman elected to a U.S. Statehouse
- 2017 #MeToo became viral in calling out sexual harassment and assault offenders that had previously been undetected
- 2018 Women’s March repeated with between 1.6-2.5 million participants
Works Cited
“Women’s History in the U.S.” National Woman’s Party, nationalwomansparty.org/learn/womens-history-in-the-us.
“Women’s Rights Movement.” National Womens History Project, nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement.
