| Popis: |
Chapter 7 explores the equal pay debates of the Civil War era. The government paid women less than it paid men, although many performed the same or equivalent work. Between late 1864 and early 1870, Congress received at least 740 female federal employee signatures on eleven separate petitions asking for greater pay. Some of these women argued that since they performed the same work as men, they should be paid the same. The efforts of early female federal employees and labor feminists to obtain equal pay for equal work engendered a precocious debate in Congress that almost succeeded in earning equal pay for women and forced Congressmen to engage in dialogues about gender equality and the role the federal government should play in society. Despite the exciting rhetoric of equality and justice in these debates, Congress did not set the standard of equal pay for women underscoring that although women had made much progress in federal work during the Civil War era, much work remained to be done. Surprisingly, petitioners did not receive much assistance from the women’s suffrage movement. The absence of the suffrage movement in these debates arguably disadvantaged both causes. |
