Gender Equality and

Inequality
(from History of the Indies by Bartolome de las Casas, c. 1500s)

Women in pre-Columbian Native American Societies:

“Marriage laws are non-existent [in Indian society]; men
and women alike choose their mates and leave them as they
please, without offense, jealousy or anger. They multiply in
great abundance; pregnant women work to the last minute and
give birth almost painlessly; up the next day, they bathe in the
river and are as clean and healthy as before giving birth. If they
tire of their men, they [leave as they please].”

“[They live in] large communal buildings housing up to 600

people at one time…they put no value on gold and other
precious things. They lack all manner of commerce, neither
buying nor selling, and rely exclusively on their natural
environment for maintenance. They are extremely generous
with their possessions.”

Gender Equality and

Inequality
(edited from a letter written by Elizabeth Sprigs, a servant in America, 1756)

Women in Colonial America:

“What we [female servants] suffer here is beyond the

probability of you to conceive. Let it suffice that I am one
of the unhappy number who toil day and night, and sleep
in amongst the horses…[If I complain] I am tied up and
whipped to a degree worse than an animal, with scarce
nothing to eat but corn and salt…almost naked with no
shoes or stockings to wear.”

Gender Equality and

Inequality
(taken from “The Future is Ours to Lose” in the New York Times Magazine)

A Snapshot of Successes in American History:

1834 – Factory “girls” organize a work strike in Lowell, Mass.

1837 – Oberlin College becomes the first upper level school to
admit women
1889 – Jane Addams leads the way for housing reform in
Chicago
1894 – Women are admitted to Johns Hopkins Medical School
1920 – Through the 19th Amendment, women earn the right to
vote
1932 – Frances Perkins becomes the first woman in a
presidential cabinet
1957 – Daisy Bates leads a lawsuit to integrate public schools
1963 – The Equal Pay Act is passed in U.S. Congress
1973 – The Supreme Court establishes a woman’s right to
choose in Roe v. Wade
1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman
Supreme Court justice
1993 – The Family and Medical Leave Act passes, giving job
security to women (and men) who take time off to
raise children
 Gender Equality and
Inequality
(from Time magazine, April 2010)

Economic Inequality Today:

-The average woman earns 77 cents for each dollar

earned by a man

-Female office secretaries earn 83% of what male office

secretaries earn

-Female truck drivers make 76% of what male truck

drivers earn in a week
-Between the ages of 26 and 59, female workers earn just
38% of what male workers make

-Nearly 40% of women are the primary source of income

for their households

Gender Equality and

Inequality
Why study only women?

-94% of our “American Profiles” presentations have been

men
-100% of American presidents and vice presidents have
been male

+Studying women allows us to look at social history, the

stories and events that are common to most people

+Women’s struggles have often coincided with other

social struggles such as abolition and labor movements