The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women's Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice

Notes

C hAPte r 1 1. The seven groups were as follows: the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, 8,000,000 members (U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 866); the American Association of University Women, 98,000 members (U.S. Senate , Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 863); the League of Women Voters, 83,000 members in 550 local leagues (League of Women Voters 2009; U.S. Senate , Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 659); the National Council of Jewish Women, 70,000 women in 202 sections (U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 954); the Women’s Action Committee for Lasting Peace, 20,000 members (U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 86); the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, membership not disclosed; and the National Women’s Trade Union League, membership not disclosed. 2. Testimony of Mrs. Donald R. Burgess, Maryland State Division, AAUW, in U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 864–65. 3. Testimony of Mrs. Joseph Willen, National Council of Jewish Women, in U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 954. 4. Testimony of Kathryn Stone, League of Women Voters of the United States, in U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations 1948, 659. 5. This book focuses primarily on formal organizations of women; I deal with individual women only insofar as they engage as leaders or members through these institutions, and I discuss movements only insofar as they are aggregations of women ’s groups. The following counted as women’s groups: organizations whose name includes a word or suffix connoting female membership (i.e., League of Women Voters, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, American National Cowbelles; American Legion Auxiliary); unions and professional associations representing overwhelmingly female employment categories (nurses, secretaries, garment workers, etc.); voluntary associations whose priorities represented disproportionately female conNotes 209 210 Notes to Pages 10–78 cerns and whose leaders were women (i.e., playground associations in the Progressive Era; breast cancer organizations in the late 20th century); and citizens’ groups working for abortion rights and family planning. In this study, the terms women’s groups, women’s associations, women’s organizations, and women’s collective engagement are used interchangeably. 6. I thank Nancy MacLean for raising this very important point. 7. Strolovitch (2007, 115) finds that inattention to intersectionally disadvantaged subpopulations is a problem that extends beyond women’s groups to social justice groups generally. Indeed, by some measures, women’s groups are not as neglectful as other social justice organizations. C hAPte r 2 1. Statement of Mrs. Milton P. Higgins, National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, in U.S. House, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce 1920, 55. 2. Statement of Mrs. Margaret Dye Ellis, National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, in U.S. House, Committee on Insular Affairs 1900, 68. 3. Statement of Miss M. Lillian Williamson, General Federation of Women’s Clubs, in U.S. House, Committee on Education 1921, 26. 4. Statement of Nannie H. Burroughs, National Association of Colored Women, in U.S. House, Committee on Rules, 18. 5. One might reasonably ask whether women’s organizational activities increased after suffrage or whether it was simply the case that congressional recognition of women’s organizations increased. The data do not allow us definitively to answer that question, but circumstantial evidence (including organizational censuses ) suggests that the upward trend was driven by women themselves. Supporting that conclusion is the fact that there was no sudden jump in women’s appearances after 1920, which we might have expected if Congress had suddenly become solicitous of newly enfranchised women’s views. I thank Nancy MacLean for raising this important question. C hAPte r 3 1. I thank Matt Grossman for providing an excellent comparative study and for calculating these ratios for me. 2. I thank Phil Cook for calling my attention to this question. C hAPte r 4 1. The seven traditional groups are the League of Women Voters and affiliates (990 appearances); the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and affiliates (524); the National Congress of Mothers/PTA and affiliates (508); the American Association of University Women and affiliates (303); the National Council of Jewish Women and affiliates (264); the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and affiliates (220); and the Young Women’s Christian Association and affiliates (166). Notes to Pages 78–90 211 2. According to the Policy Agendas Project, Congress held 16,344 hearings in the...