DECADE
Percent(%) of Women
Employed
|
Common
Types of
Employment
for Women |
Average
Earnings of
(Women/Men)
(___/$1.00) |
Groundbreakers |
1890's
17% |
teachers
nurses
domestic service
agricultural work
factory work (textile or garment manufacturing)
|
Not Available |
Union Organizers: Mary Kimball Kehew, Agnes Nestor, Mary Kenney,
Mary Evaline
Mary Jones starts own company "Woman's Canning and Preserving
Company" that uses her patented vacuum process
|
1900's
20% |
(same as 1890's) plus:
personal service
office or clerical workers
telephone/ telegraph operators
sales clerks
|
Not Available |
Annie Turnbo starts her own business making and selling door-to-door
hair products. Business expands to include a school, a bakery, theater,
barbershop and manufacturing plant.
Maggie Walker is the first African-American woman to establish
and manage a bank.
Marie Curie is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovery
of radioactivity.
|
1910's
20% |
(same as 1900's) |
Not Available |
Emma Jentzer is first woman to serve or a special agent in the
Bureau of Investigations (later known as the F.B.I.)
Alice Stebbins Wells is first female police officer (Los Angeles).
|
1920's
20% |
(same as 1910's) plus:
bond broker (Wall Street stockmarket)
printer
"home assistant" (nanny)
labor negotiator
|
Not Available |
Ethel Puffer Howes starts a program at Smith College called the
Institute for the Coordination of Women's Interests. The Institute
is designed to see how women can combine a career, marriage and
motherhood in the best way possible. (1925)
Nellie Taylor Ross is elected first woman governor in U.S. for
the state of Wyoming.
|
1930's
22% |
(same as 1920's) |
Not Available |
Ellen Church, a registered nurse, is first airline flight attendant
(stewardess). (1930)
Ruth Nichols is the first U.S. woman hired as a pilot for commercial
passenger flight. (1932)
Olive Beech co-founds Beech Aircraft Corporation. (1932)
Dorothy Shaver is named vice president at Lord and Taylor in New
York where she is in charge of advertising, publicity and fashion.
(1931)
Amelia Earhart is the first female to fly across the Atlantic
Ocean solo. (1932)
Frances Perkins is the first woman cabinet member, Secretary of
Labor. (1933)
|
1940's
as high as 36%, then low of 28% |
(same as 1930's) plus:
heavy industry and war industry
welders
riveters
auto workers
machinists
electricians
mechanics
ship building
airplane making
armament making
cable car/ bus drivers
miner (coal, copper, etc.)
postal workers
delivery drivers
|
$0.55/$1.00 |
Dorothy Shaver is named president of clothing giant Lord and Taylor.
Her salary is $110,000, the highest of any U.S. woman, yet about
a fourth of what the men in similar positions make at that time.
(1945)
Hope Skillman Schary starts the textile company Skillmill. (1942)
Romana Acosta Banudos starts up her tortilla factory which later
expands into the extremely successful Romana's Mexican Food Products.
|
1950's
30% |
(same as 1940's) minus:
heavy industry and war industry
fewer:
-welders
-autoworkers
-machinists
-mechanics
-electricians
-cable car drivers
-bus drivers
-miners
|
$0.63/$1.00 |
The first woman is elected to the American Institute of Banking.
(1952)
Lillian Vernon starts a mail order catalog business. (1952)
African-American female Ernestine G. Foster Bowman starts her
own insurance company, E.G. Bowman Company, offering home owner's
insurance to African-American families. (1953)
The Whirly Girls association formed by female helicopter pilots.
(1955)
Marion Donovan invents the disposable diaper. (1951)
Bette McMurray Nesmith develops "Liquid Paper". A white paint
that is used to correct typing errors. (1956)
|
1960's
35% |
(same as 1950's) |
$0.60/$1.00 |
Phyllis Peterson and Julie Walsh are the first female members
of the American Stock Exchange. (1965)
Mary G. Berg Wells co-founds one of the most "in-demand" advertising.
Indira Gandhi is elected prime minister of India. (1966)
Golda Meir is elected prime minister of Israel. (1969)
|
1970's
44% |
(same as 1960's) plus:
stockbrokers
doctors
lawyers
steelworkers
coal miners
railroad workers
|
$0.59/$1.00 |
Juanita Morris Kreps serves as the first female director of the
New York Stock Exchange. (1972)
Joanne C. Pierce and Susan L. Roley are sworn in as the first
female F.B.I. agents since 1924. (1972)
Emily Howell pilots 737 passenger jetliner for regularly scheduled
commercial airline. (1973)
Bonnie Tiburzi is the first female jet pilot to be hired by a
major airline. (1973)
Kay Koplovitz starts the independent cable network MSG Sports
which later becomes the USA Cable Network. (1977)
Lane Nemeth creates Discovery Toys which develops and markets
non-violent educational toys and games.
|
1980's
52% |
(same as 1970's) plus:
entrepeneurs
judge
middle and upper management
human resources managers
engineering
accountants
computer programmers
construction workers
farmers
financial managers
economists
truck drivers
park rangers
college teachers
real estate agents
technical writers
|
$0.59/$1.00 |
Jan Davidson starts up her own educational software publishing
company. (1982)
Betsy Carroll is the first female to fly a jumbo jet across the
Atlantic Ocean for a commercial airline. (1984)
Dorothy Brunson is the first African-American woman to own a television
station. (1986)
Kathryn Sullivan is the first female U.S. astronaut to walk in
space. (1984)
Sandra Day O'Conner is appointed first woman U.S. Supreme Court
Justice.
|
1990's
75% |
(same as 1980's) plus:
chemists
advertising executives
pilots
military service
fire fighters
professional athletes
scientists
scientific researchers
religious ministers
politicians
architects
musicians
|
$0.71/$1.00
(1998 -
$0.77/$1.00)
|
Beverly Harvard is the first African-American female to head a
major city's police department, Atlanta. (1994)
Linda Wachner heads up Warnaco (a retail chain) and is called
the most successful businesswoman in America by Fortune magazine.
(1992)
The WNBA successfully spawns 8 professional women's basketball
teams across the U.S.
|
