In this Book
- This Grand Experiment: When Women Entered the Federal Workforce in Civil War–Era Washington, D.C.
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: Civil War America
summary
In the volatility of the Civil War, the federal government opened its payrolls to women. Although the press and government officials considered the federal employment of women to be an innocuous wartime aberration, women immediately saw the new development for what it was: a rare chance to obtain well-paid, intellectually challenging work in a country and time that typically excluded females from such channels of labor. Thousands of female applicants from across the country flooded Washington with applications. Here, Jessica Ziparo traces the struggles and triumphs of early female federal employees, who were caught between traditional, cultural notions of female dependence and an evolving movement of female autonomy in a new economic reality. In doing so, Ziparo demonstrates how these women challenged societal gender norms, carved out a place for independent women in the streets of Washington, and sometimes clashed with the female suffrage movement.
Examining the advent of female federal employment, Ziparo finds a lost opportunity for wage equality in the federal government and shows how despite discrimination, prejudice, and harassment, women persisted, succeeding in making their presence in the federal workforce permanent.
Examining the advent of female federal employment, Ziparo finds a lost opportunity for wage equality in the federal government and shows how despite discrimination, prejudice, and harassment, women persisted, succeeding in making their presence in the federal workforce permanent.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Illustrations
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- Epilogue: We Do Not Intend to Give Up
- pp. 221-226
- Bibliography
- pp. 317-332
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469635996
Related ISBN(s)
9781469635972, 9781469635989, 9781469668857, 9798890849571
MARC Record
OCLC
1005354007
Pages
352
Launched on MUSE
2017-12-13
Language
English
Open Access
No