Hockey Fans,
Since the recent thread has been geared towards Title IX and other
feminist issues, I would like to add a different perspective to the
conversation. Admittedly, this digest is solely about hockey, but
since 1998 marks the 150th anniversary of the women's rights movement,
a clearer understanding of the history that instigated Title IX might
add some perspective.
In 1848, 300 men and women adopted the Declaration of Sentiments in Seneca Falls, New York. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, the Declarations of Sentiments stated: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal..." Although today we would hardly think of such a statement, it was a radical cry for liberation that would ultimately take over 70 years to fester before women would be granted the right to vote in 1920. Think about it. Seventy-eight years ago, women couldn't vote. They could not own property or hope to receive a graduate degree. Equally importantly, women could no rticipate in sports.
Here is a brief timeline for you to see the progress of women's rights to this date. This information was compiled by the National Women's History Project. Further information can be obtained on their web site at www.legacy98.org.
| 1849 | Elizabeth Smith Miller appears on the streets of Seneca Falls, New York, in "turkish trousers," soon to be known as "bloomers." |
|---|---|
| 1855 | The University of Iowa becomes the first state school to admit women. In 1858, the board of managers tries, but fails, to exclude women. |
| 1860 | Of 2,225,086 Black women, 1,971,135 are held in slavery. In San Francisco, about 85% of Chinese women are essentially enslaved as prostitutes. |
| 1866 | 14th Amendment is passed by Congress (ratified by the states in 1868), the first time "citizens" and "voters" are defined as "male" in the Constitution. |
| 1869 | December 10: The first woman suffrage law in U.S. passed in the territory of Wyoming. |
| 1870 | The 15th Amendment receives final ratification. By its text, women are not specifically excluded from the vote. |
| 1878 | The Susan B. Anthony Amendment, to grant women the vote, is first introduced in the U.S. Congress. |
| 1887 | For the first and only time in this century, the U.S. Senate votes on woman suffrage. It loses, 34 to 16. 25 Senators do not bother to participate. |
| 1920 | On August 26, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing American women citizens the right to vote. It is quietly signed into law in a ceremony to which the press and suffragists were not invited. |
| 1957 | The number of women and men voting is approximately equal for the first time. |
| 1960 | Women now earn only 60 cents for every dollar earned by men, a decline since 1955. Women of color earn only 42 cents. |
| 1965 | Lyndon Johnson's Executive Order 11246 takes the 1964 Civil Rights Act a step further, requiring federal agencies and federal contractors to take "affirmative action" in overcoming employment discrimination. |
| 1970 | Women wages fall to 59 cents for every dollar earned by men. Although nonwhite women earn even less, the gap is closing between white women and women of color. |
| 1970 | The Equal Rights Amendment is reintroduced into Congress. |
| 1972 | Title IX of the Education Amendments requires that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." |
| 1972 | After languishing since 1923, the ERA is passed by Congress on March 22 and sent to the states for ratification. Hawaii approves it within the hour. By the end of the week, so have Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Idaho and Iowa. |
| 1973 | Billie Jean King scores an enormous victory for female athletes when she beats Bobby Riggs in "The Battle of the Sexes," a televised tennis tournament watched by nearly 48,000,000 people. |
| 1974 | Little League agrees to include girls "in deference to a change in social climate," but creates a softball branch specifically for girls to draw them from baseball. |
| 1976 | Title IX goes into effect (see 1972 entry). Opening the way for women's increased participation in athletics programs and professional schools, enrollments leap in both categories. Title IX withstands repeated court challenges over time (see 1997 entry). |
| 1978 | 100,000 march in support of the Equal Rights Amendment in Washington, D.C.. |
| 1978 | For the first time in history, more women than men enter college. |
| 1981 | Sandra Day O'Connor is the first woman ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1993, she is joined by Ruth Bader Ginsberg. |
| 1985 | Tracey Thurman of Connecticut is first woman to win a civil suit as a battered wife. |
| 1986 | About 25% of scientists are now women, but they are still less likely than men to be full professors or on a tenure track in teaching. Only 3.5% of the National Academy of Sciences members are women (51 members); since the academy's 1863 founding, only 60 women have been elected. |
| 1992 | Women are now paid 71 cents for every dollar paid to men. The range is from 64 cents for working-class women to 77cents for professional women with doctorates. Black women earned 65 cents, Latinas 54 cents. |
| 1992 | Women win all five of the gold medals won by Americans during the Winter Olympics. |
| 1996 | U.S. women's spectacular success in the Summer Olympics (19 gold medals, 10 silver, 9 bronze) is the result of large numbers of girls and women active in sports since the passage of Title IX. |
| 1997 | Elaborating on Title IX, the Supreme Court rules that college athletics programs must actively involve roughly equal numbers of men and women to qualify for federal support. |
| 1998 | Women's Hockey debuts as an Olympic sport, catapulting women into a "male" aggressive sport. |
I don't want to take much more of your time. It's important to look at the whole history of women's rights when discussing subjects like Title IX. Many younger women, myself included, have for a long time believed erroneously that the battle for women's rights has been won. We are wrong. The battle is still raging. The Equal Rights Amendment which states that people can not be discriminated against under the laws of the Constitution on the basis of sex has not been passed. Think about it.
Daun
"The "Timeline of the Women's Right Movement", found at www.legacy98.org, was researched and compiled by the National Women's History Project. Find more information about women's history and accomplishments at www.nwhp.org."
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