英语论文二十世纪美国妇女的社会地位

山西师范大学本科毕业论文
二十世纪美国妇女的社会地位
张婧姓名
系院外国语学院
业专英语双学位0702班级
班号学0619010219
指导教师楠李
答辩日期
成绩
内容摘要
妇女在社会中扮演着十分重要的角色，但是由于各方面的原因，妇女的社会地位
与其重要性却不对等。

作为一个移民国家，美国妇女由白人、黑人和华裔妇女组成。

鉴于美国这一国家自身的独特性，关于美国妇女的社会地位问题一直以来都是学者们研究的重点，尤其是二十世纪。

这一时期，美国社会发生了巨大的变化。

美国妇女的社会地位也随之发生了很大的变化。

这两种变化交互影响：社会的变化为妇女社会地位的改善创造了条件，反过来，妇女社会地位的改善有促进了社会的进步。

总体上来说，虽然期间有一些波折，但是二十世纪美国妇女的社会地位主要呈现一种上升的趋势。

本文主要是通过一些重要的数据对比和重大事件，从经济，高等教育和政治三方面研究妇女社会地位的提高，描述这种变化的表现，分析造成这种变化的原因，以及妇女社会地位改变对美国社会的影响，最后，呼吁人们为改善妇女的社会地位创造条件。

关键词：妇女社会地位；工作机会；高等教育；平等；政治参与
Abstract
Women play an important role in the society, but for all kinds of reasons, their social status is out of proportion with their importance. As an immigrated country, the American
women were mainly composed of the whites, the blacks and the Chinese women. Since the
United States of America is distinct as an independent nation, the American women's social status has always been an important problem for researchers. The American society
th century. So did the American women's social status. witnessed a lot of changes in the 20These two changes also had an effect on each other: the social transitions provided some
conditions for the improvement of the American women's social status, in reverse, their
status' improvement also promoted the social progress. In summary, although there were
th century, the American women's some setbacks during the 20social status presented an
increasing tendency.
This paper mainly discussed the improvement of the American women's social status from the perspectives of economy, higher education and politics by comparing some important figures and significant events while describing the manifestations of the shifts.
The paper studied the factors which had caused these shifts and these shifts' influence to
American society as well. At last, the author called on people to create some
conditions to
improve women's social status.
Key words: women's social status; employment opportunity; higher education; equity;
political participation
Contents
1.…………1. Introduction……………………………………………………th...1…………………………………century1.1 The American society in the 20
……………..2social status American women's 1.2 The factors that influenced the
...32. American Women's Economic Status…………………………………
…………………………..32.1 The American women's employment opportunity……………………………………….52.2 The working women's role in family.7………………………3. American Women's Status in
Higher Education
..7…………………………3.1 American women as students in higher education ..8…………………3.2 American women as faculty members in higher education ......................................................94. American Women's Political
Statu s....
……………………………………….94.1 American women's effects in politics10…………………………………cipation4.2 American women's political parti………………………………………………………………5. Conclusion..12References
Acknowledgements
The American Women's Social Status
th in the 20 Century
1.Introduction
Women play a vital part both in family and social life, but their importance and value are always overlooked by the people and the society. So do the American women. For a
long time, the American women's social status was dramatically out of proportion with
their importance. They suffered from the social prejudice and bias which provided
them
with only limited rights. This kind of unequal situation had not been greatly improved until
th century.
the 20th century The American society in the 201.1th century had witnessed unprecedented changes The 20in the American society and
the American women's life.
The development of industry which was known as the Industrial Revolution changed th century. As a result in the 20of the American the American society significantly Industrial Revolution, the labor market was greatly enlarged. Under the circumstances,
only men couldn't meet the enlarging labor needs. This provided an employment opportunity for women to work outside the home. Especially in 1939, the Second World
War broke out. Almost all male workers were asked to join in the army. Women were encouraged to work in factories due to the severe labor shortages. Even though they returned home after the war, women still made a great contribution to American society
during the war time. Besides, with the development of science and technology, many great
inventions were invented. These inventions such as tractors, mechanical cotton pickers,
vacuum cleaners, washing machines affected not only the industry production but also the
family life. Owing to these great inventions; women could free themselves from the heavy
housework and had more extra time to work outside their families. At the same time, many
regulations and laws about improving women's social status were proposed and put into
effect. For example, the President John F. Kennedy organized an Advisory Commission on
the Status of Women to make some public policies which were of benefit to women (Conway, 1995:6). In the 1960s, in particular, the feminism movement gathered strength.
And the total number of women organizations was increased drastically as well. These organizations were aimed at fighting for women's legal rights and improving women's social status. They also provided a stage for women to start a new life.
All these social transitions contributed to the improvement of the American women's social status.
1.2 The factors that influenced the American women's social status
There were many factors that influenced the American women's social status in the
th century. All these factors were not isolated; they were closely connected with each 20other. Based on the essence and category of the factors, we can classify these factors into
two categories: the internal factors and the external factors.
The internal factors were the arouse of women's self-consciousness and the desire for self-fulfillment. Women were not satisfy with their current conditions in the society, they
began to place a great emphasis on achieving personal satisfaction and individual growth
and struggled to fight for their own rights and benefits. Not only did they campaign women
movement, they also established and developed lots of women organizations, for example,
the National Organization for Women, General federation of Women's Club, the League of
Women V oters (Rix, 1987: 29), to improve their social status. The movement and the organizations strengthened the American women's collective consciousness and encouraged them to work together to fight for their social status. They realized
self-value
and achieved accomplishments through the movement as well.
th century, the In the 20of The external factors were the transitions the society. American society experienced the Great Depression, the World War Ⅱ, and the economic
boom after the war. All these changes made it possible for women to step out of the domestic sphere and offered an opportunity to broaden their horizons. It is needless to say
that the American industrialization also played a key role in liberating women from the
traditional roles as full-time housewives. Furthermore, some great inventions such as
tractors, mechanical cotton pickers, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and the like so
largely reduced the time which women devoted to housework that they had more spare
time to do what they favored. They participated in some voluntary associations: temperance societies, charitable associations, settlement houses and so on (Rix, 1987:39).
In these associations, they realized their own value. They were not content with their current situations in the society. They wanted to improve their social status, they'd like to
work outside the family, have access to higher education and take part in the political activities and what not. In addition, the legal guarantee such as the enforcements of the
Equal Pay Act of 1963, Economic Equity Act, Higher Education Act, the Women's Educational Equal Act of 1974, Title Ⅶof the Civil Rights Act of 1964(Conway, 1995:6),
and all played an important part in improving the women's social status ,too.
All these factors caused the American women strive to improve their social status in th century.
the 202.American Women's Economic Status
2.1 The American women's employment opportunity
The American women's employment opportunity can be discussed from two aspects: the number of working women, the job they did and the pay they earned.
For a long period, women were not allowed to work outside the home. Even if they could work outside the family, they just did some jobs which didn't need too many skills in
limited fields. They were denied access to many kinds of jobs. Their working choices were
often confined to nurses, teachers, social workers or most commonly, domestic services.
Only a few worked as the clerks in offices. What's more, women's work outside the home
was temporary, always ending with their marriages (Rix, 1987:41-42). In brief, their work
outside the families was not encouraged.
th century, especially after the World War Ⅱ, because of the severe labor
the In 20shortages and some cultural and legal obstructions to the employment of the married
women were eliminated, women were encouraged to work outside the home. On one hand,
the number of working women increased significantly; on the other hand, a good many
women's work shifted from farm, domestic and service work to skilled industrial jobs
which was previously closed to them and only opened to men (Rix, 1987:49). Even though
they returned home after the war, their devotions to the American society and economy
were of great importance. And of course, this also paved the way for women to work outside the family. Since then, in several states, for example, major labor unions and states
legislatures adopted the equal-pay-for-equal-work standard (Rix, 1987:51) .It was estimated that by 1980s, more than half of adult women worked outside the domestic th sphere, and by 1990s, the figure reached almost 60 percent. While in the middle of
the 20century, there were less than 20 percent working women (Conway, 1995:4). From these
figures, we can see that there had been an increasing number of women working outside
th century. the home and the ratio of working women had steadily increased in the 20 The increased proportion of women in the labor market aroused the concern of inequities in pay and employment opportunity and their status in the workplace (Conway,
th 20half of the for equal-pay-for equal-work. In the early 1995:61).They started to ask century, women were only admitted to some less skilled jobs, such as clerical jobs, sales
jobs, nursing and teaching and all that sort of thing. The higher paying or professional and
managerial positions were only admitted to men workers (Conway, 1995:61). In the latter
th century, with the implementation of the Title Ⅸlegislation and Title Ⅶhalf of the 20 of
the Civil Rights Act in 1964, discriminations against women pursing advanced professions
such as law, medicine, management, bank and so forth were abolished step by step. Women's proportion in the managerial and professional occupations had increased. But it
was an undeniable fact that although women had taken a footstep towards the formerly
man-dominated professions, they were less likely to be advanced to a higher position. For
one thing, from government civil service to university faculties, private companies and
banks, women were underrepresented at the top, however, overrepresented at the bottom,
when compared with men (Rix, 1987:123). What they did was more auxiliary than specialized. For another, because they were considered as the primary care providers for
both children and elderly parents, it was impossible for women to be employed as
full-time
employers. Women's average working time was less than men's. And also, the proportions
between men and women who worked in the formerly male-dominated professions
were
unbalanced. Women only accounted for a small proportion.
The wage-gap can not be overlooked, either. In the past, women's average earnings were substantially fewer than that of men. This was in part because that women's work
was less skilled than men's and their working time was also less than that of men. But when women worked in the male-dominated occupations, they still earned less than their
men counterparts who did the same jobs. The situation was not improved until the passage
of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Conway,
1995:63). This was a small but very significant step toward requiring equity between men
and women in employment. Since the passage of the two acts, there have been supports of
legislative regulations for eliminating sex differences on wages. Ever since, the disparities
between the earnings of men and women have been declining. But the laws' implementations were not the sole reason that narrowed the pay gap. There were other reasons that caused the pay-gap between men and women narrowing. For example, they
did more skilled jobs than before. More women were employed in the higher-paying professional, managerial, technical occupations. Furthermore, women worked more continuously than in the past (Conway, 1995:66). All these leaded to the narrowing of the
pay-gap based on sexes.
Although the wage-gap between male and female has been declining since the 1980s,
the differences still existed. In order to get rid of the disparities on wages thoroughly, more
efforts and actions should be taken. Improving the women's access not only to
male-dominated but also to the higher-paying occupations and establishing comparable
equal compensation in female-dominated professions were important ways to reduce the
pay gap (Rix, 1987:126). What's more, the equal employment opportunity especially in the
higher-paying jobs between men and women was a more effective way to bridge the wage-gap and gain the real equality.
2.2 The working women's role in family
The working women played an increasingly important role in both economy and
th century.
family life in the 20
Generally speaking, people always thought that men's earnings were the main financial resources in the families while working women's income was secondary to men's
and even non-essential. Women's work was not worthy of any monetary reward comparing
to that of men. And women were not financially responsible for their family (Rix, 1987:103). What's worse, women's jobs had always been undervalued and ignored since
their work was paid fewer than men's work and they were not seen as important economic
providers as men.
th century, with the development of the society and the economy, a
However, in the 20majority of women began to combine family life with work outside the home. Although
women, on average, earned less than men, their contribution to the economic resources of
the family was significant and could not be ignored any more. For example, in husband-wife families, a wife's earnings made a significant difference on the family living
standards. Their family would be able to live a better life than the family with only a husband worked outside the home to support the whole family. The financial status of that
time's husband-wife families was also closely relevant to women's earnings. In a single-parent family, mother's income was more important because the mother's wage was
the only economic resources. Without the mother's income, they even could not make a
living. In summary, the working women's income played a critical part in family life. And
also, the working women lessened their dependency on men, they were financially independent.
In addition, women and men all worked outside the home to support the family, but women still had to bear the most responsibility of housework. The shift of women to paid
employment didn't mean a reduce in the number of hours most women spent in the household. They not only had to work outside the home to support the family but also they
had to do most or even all of the housework such as cleaning, cooking, shopping, child
caring and so on after they returned home from workplace while men didn't (Conway,1995:80). Women devoted more total hours to the family economy than they did
before the changes.
th century as well. By 1960s,
The working women gained more rights in family in the 20married women had the rights to deal with property. They acquired the right to own and
control the property they brought to the marriage and that which they acquired during the
marriage while in the past the family property was controlled by men. Women were also
entitled the right to decide the residents and equal guardian rights over the children. Moreover, it was a tradition that a woman should adopt the surname of her husband after
marriage. But since then, the married women could keep their own name without adopting
their husband's surname (何家弘, 2001:248-249). All these were progresses which the th century. To some extent, the American women's statuAmerican women made in the 20s
th century. in economy was upgraded in the 203.American Women's Status in Higher Education
Since both the individual and society attached great importance to education opportunity, the higher educational right was also one of the most important areas in which
women struggled for equal opportunity all around the time. The more education a woman
received, the more likely she was to be employed or promoted.
The American women's status in higher education can be analyzed from two aspects: women as students and women as faculty members (Conway, 1995:21).
3.1 American women as students in higher education
In American, for a long run, most women were excluded from the higher education. Only a small number of women had access to colleges and universities. In the early
th century, on average, there were only about 40 20beginning of the percent of women students in higher education (Rix, 1987:240). The unequal situation hadn't been improved
until the Title Ⅶof the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was amended in 1972. Since then,
more and more women had been allowed to higher education. In 1979, the number of women students was first exceeded the number of men students in the college enrollment.
The percentage of college women students increased continuously. By 1990s, more than
half of women went into colleges and universities for further studies. Not all students in
higher education could earn degrees, however, women's proportion of earning degrees at
every level of higher education were increasing all the time. In 1974, women were awarded
45 percent of all bachelors' degrees; in 1982, the figure reached 51 percent (Conway, 1995:24). And the percentage of women who received masters' and doctorates' degrees
was also increased. By 1990s, there were about half of women earned master's degrees
while there were less than 35 percent in the 1960s. The proportion of doctorates earned by
women also jumped from 16 percent of all doctorates awarded in 1972 to 35.4 percent of
the total awarded in 1986. The proportion was still keeping increasing (Rix,
1987:242).Women were making a slow but very steady strides at the higher educational
level.
Apart from the mentioned above，women's study fields were also amplified. For example, in the past, women were refused to study in military colleges for many years. In
1976, military universities began to recruit women students as a consequence of the Congressional legislation. In the middle of the 1990s, there were nearly 13 percent of women students in military colleges. And the number of women who majored in fields
such as business, law, medicine which were traditionally thought of as the domain of men
was also increased significantly, though the proportion was very small (刘永涛, 2001:244).
It was a step that had broad implications for the eliminations of the gender discrimination
in the society as a whole, where the attitudes about the role of women and their relationships to society were developed and reinforced gradually. It was a success women
achieved in higher education.
3.2 American women as faculty members in higher education
As for women as faculty members in higher educational institutions, they also suffered
from unequal treatment. Not only did the average salaries of female faculty members were
less than those of male counterparts, but also the women faculty members were less likely
to be in leading positions such as department chiefs, deans and college
presidents(Conway,
1995:21).Usually the higher the rank is, the fewer the women there are. Women were always at the foot of the academic pyramids.
It was after the passage of the landmark legislation known as Title Ⅸin 1972 that the
percentage of women in positions of authority and management in higher education began
to increase (Conway, 1995:21). There was a report that of the more than 400,000
full-time
faculty members on college and university in the autumn of 1983, women accounted for
27.3 percent, only increasing by 5 percent compared with 1972 (Rix, 1987:240). Because a
large proportion of women were promoted to professors in the 1940s, and they retired in
the 1980s, whereas newly employed women were not moving as quickly as men into higher faculty position; this caused a slow growth in the increase of women as full professors in the 1980s. In 1972, women constituted 9.8 percent of all full professors, while the figure had risen only to 10.7 percent by 1983. In addition, women's proportion
among senior administrators also had increased, although the increase was dismally small,
from 0.6 percent in 1975 to 1.1 percent in 1983 (Rix, 1987:240). It was a progress compared with the past. To some extent, the small increase in the number of women holding executive positions in the educational establishment resulted in a lessening of institutional discrimination against women.
th century, women had made 20end of the many achievements in
In a word, by the
higher education both as students and faculty members. Although women had made strides
in the efforts to eliminate gender discrimination in higher education, the tasks were far from completion. There was still a long way to go in some fields, in particular, women's
appointments to administrative-level positions in higher education.
American Women's Political Status4.
4.1 American women's effects in politics
Since the establishment of the United States of America, women had been precluded
from the process of the public policy, though they accounted for a large number in the total
population. Their ideas were always neglected. But with the social development, the American women also wanted a voice in the politics. And their effects in politics became
evident gradually.
In the 1920s, the American women gained the suffrage right. It was a remarkable event. Since then, they had a great influence on the politics. For instance, because women
voters outnumbered the men voters, for the reason, the views women hold on political views cannot be ignored by candidates for public offices. If the candidate wanted to win
the election, he couldn't neglect the women voters' anticipation. Once the candidates overlooked the women voters' voice, unexpected voting patterns and results would appear
(Rix, 1987:181). And when the elected politicians were proved to be corrupted, women
must vote them out by using their political rights.
Women showed more sensible than perceptual in politics. Women were more likely than men to support candidates whom they perceive to be liberal. Liberal women officeholders might possibly be more supportive of policies that would enhance their status
for women, while conservative women might be less likely to offer their encouragement
and their votes. Once women voters were aware of this kind of situation, they were more
likely to support politically liberal men than their conservative female opponents (Rix, 1987:179-180). They considered suffrage right as a efficient and effective way to improve
their status and get more opportunities.
In order to increase the number of low-income women registering to vote, almost one
hundred women's groups worked as a whole in the 1984 Women's V ote Project. And finally they succeeded. They not only fought for legislation, they also monitored the implementations of laws. By careful monitoring the implementation process of the laws
and regulations, in particular, the development of regulatory guidelines to carry out the law,
the American women realized the greatest benefits from Title Ⅸ(Rix, 1987: 29). The
American women began to exerted more effects on public legislations.
th the 20effect on politics in American Whatever to say, the women posed more century than in the past.
4.2 American women's political participation
Traditionally, the political affairs have always been considered as men's patent and it was of no business with women. Women had rarely political rights. Even the First Ladies,
Abigail Adams and Dolly Madison, playing important roles in their husbands' careers, did
help to their husbands behind the scenes(徐鸿雁, 2006:51). They never touched the political affairs directly.
With the development of the women's liberation movement and the feminism movement, the situation was changed. More and more women began to take interested in
politics and set foot in politics in public. For instance, after the World WarⅡ, the
American women gradually realized the fact that political participation was a fundamental
and indispensable way to improve their social status in American society. Only when they
took part in the political affairs positively did the can have equal rights with men in education, economy, health, employment and so on. Their political participation consciousness and ideas were enhanced. Particularly, in the 1980s, the American women
took participate in the politics actively. Not only did their voting passion rose dramatically,
they also brought their own political initiative into full play. According to the New York
Times, 53 percent of voters in the presidents' election campaigns in 1980 were women voters. The number of women voters who registered and voted firstly surpassed the number of men electors (Rix, 1987:174). The women voters devoted themselves to nearly
all kinds of election campaigns, such as the Congressional election, government official
election, the mayor and the governor election. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro voted for the
American vice president. Though it was a failure, it was a landmark achievement in women's political participation. On one hand, this event greatly encouraged American women's confidence in taking part in the national affairs. On the other hand, it changed
people's bias about women's stereotyping images (李秋金, 2008:140). Since then, an increasing number of women dedicated themselves to the political activities and were enthusiastic about politics. As to the First Ladies, taking Eleanor Roosevelt and
Hillary
Clinton for example, they stepped out of the scenes and took part in the political affairs
directly and publicly. They made remarkable influence on public policies(徐鸿雁, 2006:52). The two First Ladies developed their careers in the course of helping their husbands.
The increase in the number of women holding public office was becoming significant,
especially in county and municipal governments. In the decades prior to 1984, the number
of women holding county office grew from 3 percent of elected officials to 8 percent. And
by 1985, four of the 100 largest cities in the United States had women mayors (Rix, 1987:178). Though these figures did not reflect the proportion of American women adults
in the government offices, they certainly reflected the fact that more and more women began to participate in the politics actively.
In addition, the number of women who hold the position of Congresswomen and government officials in federal and state governments has been increasing dramatically
since 1980 (李秋金, 2008:140). Even the proportion of women in American Congress was
still very small; the number had increased in an immeasurable speed.
th century.
In a word, the American women made a great progress in politics in the 20
Their political status had largely improved. They used their political rights to fight for other rights in economy, education and so on. Their political participation made contributions to the formulation of public policies as well. It promoted the social equity.
5.Conclusion
th century 20in the was , although the American women's social status In conclusionstill lower than that of the American men; their social status had improved a lot than in the
past. There was no doubt that the American women's status in economy, higher education,
and politics had been dramatically improved. By women's own efforts and convenience
social conditions, they had won economic independent to some degrees, had more access
to higher education and political affairs. They played an increasingly important role in。