American Women Working in the 20th Century

About the Collection

Our collection, “American Women Working in the 20th Century,” is the culmination of photos collected from DPLA of women engaging in various types of labor. For the collection we aimed to pull 2 photos from each decade between 1900 and 2000 and we have a combined total of 21 photos. Additionally, we wanted to strike a balance between women in workplace settings such as industry and also homemaking which is still labor, traditionally unpaid, yet contributes a large amount to the nation’s economy. The only true intention with our collection was to capture an even number across the decades of women engaging in labor tasks. However, we wanted to see if there were any natural transitions, or features that popped up from the collection.

In the 20th century, only about 20% of women were “gainful” workers employed outside the home. Even then, the types of professions available to women at the time were limited. Additionally many of the working women were unmarried who left their employment after marrying to enter the unpaid labor of homemaking and caretaking. In the 1930s, the rate of women in gainful employment rose slightly but was still low. Many women who held gainful employment were looked down upon as many who held jobs were in poorer classes and/or minorities. In the period from 1940 to 1960, women’s rights in America were strengthened by the civil rights movement. During World War II, women joined industrial jobs as men were called to the war effort, leaving spaces open for new employees. This was a major turning point for women in employment. However, after the war, many women were laid off as men returned looking for their jobs.

Technological changes changed the employment industry from industrial to a labor force that required more education, and gave space for more women workers. Additionally, women were seeking more education. However, before the 1970s, it was still common for women’s careers to end or be secondary to a man’s career. The 1970s featured a wide variety of civil rights legal changes including new laws ensuring equal rights for women including labor laws, anti-harassment laws, reproductive rights, and economic rights. Into the 21st century, women are getting more opportunities out of the traditional “woman’s sphere” of teaching and clerical work and are becoming doctors, lawyers, and other advanced professionals. The variety of employment options may not be super clear in our collection based on the photos that were available to us and the limitations of how many photos we could provide. However, in spite of the advancement opportunities, the percentage of women in gainful employment is still far less than men and the amount of earnings women earn each year is less than what a man will make (by about 17%).

The work being done by women in the home is an economic force that often goes unsaid and with the transformation of more women entering the gainful employment sector housework is not looked at with serious value. However, housework is a major contributor to the economy. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, if the value of household production were included in the GDP it would add $3.8 trillion to the U.S. economy. Something we noticed about searching DPLA for women working was having to change our keyword searches to find women in different settings. It would appear that the database did not count women working at home as women in the workforce or women in the labor force. Also as more women have entered the “labor force,” they are still doing more housework than men. In “egalitarian” opposite-sex marriages, women are spending more time per week on housework and caregiving despite contributing 40-60% of the household’s combined income, according to NPR.

Our collection was created with the aim of presenting a pictorial perspective of women’s activities and career opportunities throughout the 20th century. In this collection, the available images allow us to analyze and explore the various career ideas and activities carried out by women. We hope that this collection helps to better understand the vital role of women in the creation and transformation of work environments. Potential users include historians, students, and anyone interested in women’s rights, labor movements, and those interested in photos or history.

References

Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2012). What is the Value of Household Work? Retrieved Dec 2, 2023 from https://www.bea.gov/news/blog/2012-06-11/what-value-household-work#:~:text=New%20research%20by%20the%20Bureau,the%20U.S.%20economy%20in%202010.

Hsu, A. (2023). Women are earning more money. But they’re still picking up a heavier load at home. NPR. Retrieved Dec 2, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/2023/04/13/1168961388/pew-earnings-gender-wage-gap-housework-chores-child-care.

National Archives. (n.d.). Women in the Work Force during World War II. Retrieved Dec 2, 2023, from https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/wwii-women.html#:~:text=After%20the%20war%2C%20most%20women,workforce%20became%20a%20common%20sight.

Yellen, J. (2020). The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all. Retrieved Dec 2, 2023, from https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-history-of-womens-work-and-wages-and-how-it-has-created-success-for-us-all/.