From the period 1890-1925 changing political developments, as well as the

fluctuating economy and the assumptions of women allowed for a general

improvement in the position of women in American society. Women began to see
increased job opportunities, and a change in the mindsets of the men who shared
the same workspace as them, political changes occurred as well, and the
assumptions of women were improved because of political changes in
Washington. Though with some negative repercussions this period was probably
one of the most single influential times on the status of women in America.

Before the turn of the century industrialization had taken hold but by 1900 it
had expanded into domestic territory, or things for the home, and women found
that they already possessed many of the skills need for these positions (clothing,
textiles, cigars, shoes, food processing); and the textile industry became the
single largest employer of women. Not all women followed these paths though as
new opportunities for higher education also became available, and this allowed
many young women to become teachers and professors. In 1920s women earned
about 1/3 of all graduate degrees but the only made up about 4% of all
professors. Another victory occurred in the clerical field, as here it began to open
up providing a chance to become a pharmacist or a doctor. In the 1890s women
made up over 25% of all medical school graduates, but dropped to 5% in 1920s;
primarily because men began to re-enter these fields following their return from
WWI, and by 1920 the number of women doctors had decreased. Women also
moved into a lot of previously male dominated jobs such as bookkeeping, typing,
secretaries and telephone operators. With the start of WWI and men being drafted
into the war, a lot of jobs on the home front were left open, which allowed a
women to enter into an area off-limits previously, jobs in factories were especially
easy to find. 1 million women worked in war industries during WWI, but the
number of total working women failed to increase and stayed at a constant of
about 8 million through the course of the war. However following WWI and the
decline of the economy many people were looking for a chance to bring in any
extra cash they could, and having two working adults made sustaining a family
possible. In 1907 and 1908, investigators found that out of 22,000 working
women, 60% made less than $7.00 a week, the minimum for a decent living.

The men who shared these industries with women began to change their
mindsets about exactly what a women could, and couldn't do. In 1900 20% of
women over 16 were wage earners (5.3 million), and single women began to
outnumber married women 7 to 1. They began to develop a deeper understanding
of female worker's conditions and needs, and these new beliefs coupled with a
feminine sense of independence women began to feel a need for more rights,
rights such as voting, given that they were in a lot of the same situations as men
on a daily basis. Despite the increasing status of equality for women during this
time period your average women made little more than half as much as your
average man; and upon completion of high school women, more than men, would
turn to business schools because science and medicine tended to stay closed to
women. However, during WWI the War Labor Industries Board ordered that
women be paid equal wages to men in war industries. In 1890 the National
American Women's Suffrage Association was formed, and they stressed that the
identification of women politically by allowing them to vote, would create a more
beautiful world, and eventually they would succeed with the passage of the 19th
amendment. This amendment when signed into law prevented prohibition from
being allowed to vote based on “account of sex”, it was the greatest step in the
status of females as it put them on the same political level as men, as women
could now produce a change in the poles. An important case of this was Adkins
vs. Children's Hopsital in which minimum wage legislation for women specifically
was unconstitutional under the 5th amendment.

However not all of this was good, and the betterment of women created a
lot of problems. A lot of the careers now open to women, began to become
dominated by women; and careers such as teaching and the textile industry
rather began to become seen as an extension of women's duties, despite the
increasing representation of women in the workforce. In 1900 only 5% of married
women were employed, however 25% of African American women worked in that
same year; so in reality the positions of industry came with a social backlash, and
white women became afraid to enter the workforce for fear of what others might
think, meanwhile however, the African American woman who received little in the
first place found it quite easy. Still however in 1920 between 1/2 and 1/3 of all
African American women were restricted to personal and domestic jobs because
they typically had less opportunity for advancement than a white women.
Politically we look to the case of Muller vs. Oregon, by the end of it had
established the legality of a business and a state to limit the amount of hours a
women was allowed to work, despite being meant for the safety of a women in
the workplace it in fact put them on an inferior level and by 1923, 39 states had
passed legislation regulating the maximum working hours for a women.