Arkansas women played an important role in the state's society and economy from 1930 to 2000. In this section, learn more about the contributions Arkansas women provided in the areas of occupation, law & politics and health issues.
Health
“Every woman should have a clear understanding of birth control and be able to access it to plan their families.”
The poverty and rural nature of Arkansas has resulted in healthcare being unaffordable and inaccessible for many inhabitants. Arkansas now ranks 48th in the nation for the number of women in the state with access to health insurance. To complicate matters, many areas suffer from a lack of healthcare professionals and adequate facilities. During the past decade women’s health issues such as breast cancer have attracted more attention from professionals and the general public as the “Susan G. Komen ‘Race For The Cure’” demonstrates.
Reproduction stands at the forefront of women’s health issues. All too often the focus falls on birth control and abortion when the anatomical differences in women’s bodies affect every bodily function. The approval of the Pill, by the FDA in 1960, gave women the ability to control, more effectively, their family size as well as receive protection against heart disease and certain types of cancer. Since this time, numerous other types of birth control have been developed: Norplant, Depo-Provera, the female condom and most recently, Mifepristone. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was, perhaps, the first time women had full legal control over their bodies. However, several years passed before all the barriers to birth control fell for women over eighteen in Arkansas.
In 1972, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration instituted a new maternity leave policy, the first state agency to do so. The agency gave women the opportunity to use accumulated sick time to tailor their maternity leave to their specific needs, continue to be paid and then return to their job early (with doctor’s permission). Not until 1978 did President Carter make the Pregnancy Discrimination Act a part of Title 7, requiring employers to treat pregnant women as they did persons with a disability. Any “discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” would constitute sexual discrimination.
Women of the state have fewer cases of breast cancer, chlamydia and AIDS than women in the rest of the nation, but higher rates of diabetes, death from heart disease and lung cancer and poor mental health. Despite these factors women are living long lives—the state average is 76 years. Indicators on women’s health and well being in Arkansas place the state 43rd in the nation. These numbers emphasize the need for the state to give more economic support and scholarly attention to women’s health issues.
Occupations
“When I went to college I was instructed to take home economics or secretarial courses. I wanted to be a doctor but was told that was out of the question because women doctors were homely old maids of questionable sexual preference. Because I didn’t see myself that way I compromised by becoming a medical technologist.”
The occupational history of Arkansas women resembles that of the entire nation. As early as the 1920’s women who dared to be different paved the road to greater freedom in obtaining a higher education and then selecting a career. In the 1930’s women worked mainly in domestic and agricultural positions. This held especially true for African American women. The average weekly wage for white women in these jobs was $8.45 versus $5.60 for black women.
World War II provided women with greater opportunities for work outside of the home in a variety of fields. As men went to war, women took their places in factories and ammunitions plants such as the Ford, Bacon and Davis plant in Jacksonville or the Pine Bluff Arsenal. In 1943, state legislators limited the workweek of women in private industry to fifty-four hours per week and required certain industries to pay women time and a half after forty-eight hours. After the war, women realized they enjoyed the autonomy they received from their jobs and income and desired to keep working despite the federal government’s attempts to force them back into the home.
By 1970, more than a quarter million Arkansas women worked, comprising 38% of the state workforce. While most women workers continued to hold clerical positions, African Americans remained employed as domestics. Today Arkansas women work in a wide variety of occupations. While the majority of women work in retail and wholesale sales, technical or administrative support, fewer women in Arkansas work in these fields than in comparison to the nation. Arkansas also negates the national trends in that more women work in factories and fewer work in professional and management fields. When asked about job opportunities, however, while most women recognized that they vary regionally; many women believe that all jobs are open to them.
Law & Politics
The seventy-year period between the Great Depression and the Millennium has seen many changes for women in Arkansas and the nation regarding laws that affect the lives of women.
Arkansas women legally participated in the state primary elections of May 1918. The efforts of the Arkansas Woman Suffrage State Central Committee planted seeds of change that grew into a movement to empower females. In 1934, while the nation rebounded from serious economic challenges, the town of Washington, Arkansas elected a female mayor and an all-female town council.
In 1938 Arkansas became the first in the South to reach their capacity of women in its Works Progress Administration (WPA) program. They housed one of only five National Youth Administration Camps for young black women under the WPA’s supervision. The camp was named for Mary McLeod Bethune, director of the National Youth Administration Negro Division. It offered liberal arts and vocational training classes. Young women were also introduced to outdoor living skills and an emphasis was placed on individual self-worth by organizing motivational speakers to address the women.
The Central High Crisis at Little Rock in 1957 could be called the flame that ignited the fires of political empowerment and leadership, inspiring women to stand and take notice of issues directly affecting their lives. Daisy L. Gatson Bates, the state president of the NAACP, and Adolphine Fletcher Terry, who organized the WEC (Women’s Emergency Committee), stood out as leaders during these turbulent times.
Paul Van Dalsem, Representative from Perry County, was criticized by the American Association of University Women in 1963 for a speech he made to a Little Rock Civic Club. Van Dalsem assured the audience that when any Perry County woman began “poking around in something she doesn’t know anything about…we get her pregnant and keep her barefoot.” When Van Dalsem was defeated in 1966, it was seen as a triumph for good government, rather than as a blow for women’s rights. Van Dalsem submitted the resolution for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Legislators who may have been sympathetic to the ERA may also have been contemptuous of the representative, delaying consideration of the resolution. The delay allowed opposition to mount and the ERA resolution never gained a roll-call vote.
In 1964, Dorathy Allen of Brinkley was elected as the first female state senator. Over the next thirty-five years, no more than one woman served during a senate session. In 1999, the Arkansas Senate was the only all-male legislative chamber in the nation.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did not bring federal monitors to Arkansas because the state met the basic requirements through the registration of over half of its adult voters and because of the lack of a literacy requirement. Arkansas was still recovering from post-segregation trauma when a pizza delivery sparked a community boycott of white-owned businesses, which lasted a year. An African-American school employee refused to accept and pay for a pizza she did not order and was arrested for her action. This incident was the match that ignited the anger of long smothering feelings of displacement and injustice in the community of Mariana, Arkansas. At issue were the general indignities perceived by the community in matters as varied as education and health care. The explosiveness of the situation demanded the attention of the governor.
Lottie Shackelford, a black female, became the first woman to serve as Mayor of Little Rock. The end of the century also showcased Blanche Lincoln’s election win of a U.S. Senate seat, the first popularly elected female senator since Hattie Caraway won the seat in 1932.
By the end of the century, Arkansas still had not elected a female attorney general, lieutenant governor, or governor, and no African-American had filled any of the seven state constitutional offices.
The longest serving first lady of Arkansas, Hillary Rodham Clinton, moved to our nation’s capitol to duplicate her role. Her election as a New York Senator made her the only first lady to make the transition from the White House to the Senate Chambers in a popular election.
The political face of Arkansas may soon change. In 1998 the Census Bureau estimated that nearly 50,000 Hispanics lived in Arkansas, with a large concentration in the Little Rock area. As they adapt to their new home, their voices will also be heard among the throngs of Arkansans who speak in individual tones as well as collective ones.
For more information:
Johnson, III, Ben F., Arkansas In Modern America: 1930-1999, University of Arkansas Press, 2000.
Bates, Daisy, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, University of Arkansas Press, 1986.
Murphy, Sara Alderman, Breaking the Silence, University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
“Every woman should have a clear understanding of birth control and be able to access it to plan their families.”
The poverty and rural nature of Arkansas has resulted in healthcare being unaffordable and inaccessible for many inhabitants. Arkansas now ranks 48th in the nation for the number of women in the state with access to health insurance. To complicate matters, many areas suffer from a lack of healthcare professionals and adequate facilities. During the past decade women’s health issues such as breast cancer have attracted more attention from professionals and the general public as the “Susan G. Komen ‘Race For The Cure’” demonstrates.
Reproduction stands at the forefront of women’s health issues. All too often the focus falls on birth control and abortion when the anatomical differences in women’s bodies affect every bodily function. The approval of the Pill, by the FDA in 1960, gave women the ability to control, more effectively, their family size as well as receive protection against heart disease and certain types of cancer. Since this time, numerous other types of birth control have been developed: Norplant, Depo-Provera, the female condom and most recently, Mifepristone. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was, perhaps, the first time women had full legal control over their bodies. However, several years passed before all the barriers to birth control fell for women over eighteen in Arkansas.
In 1972, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration instituted a new maternity leave policy, the first state agency to do so. The agency gave women the opportunity to use accumulated sick time to tailor their maternity leave to their specific needs, continue to be paid and then return to their job early (with doctor’s permission). Not until 1978 did President Carter make the Pregnancy Discrimination Act a part of Title 7, requiring employers to treat pregnant women as they did persons with a disability. Any “discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” would constitute sexual discrimination.
Women of the state have fewer cases of breast cancer, chlamydia and AIDS than women in the rest of the nation, but higher rates of diabetes, death from heart disease and lung cancer and poor mental health. Despite these factors women are living long lives—the state average is 76 years. Indicators on women’s health and well being in Arkansas place the state 43rd in the nation. These numbers emphasize the need for the state to give more economic support and scholarly attention to women’s health issues.
Occupations
“When I went to college I was instructed to take home economics or secretarial courses. I wanted to be a doctor but was told that was out of the question because women doctors were homely old maids of questionable sexual preference. Because I didn’t see myself that way I compromised by becoming a medical technologist.”
The occupational history of Arkansas women resembles that of the entire nation. As early as the 1920’s women who dared to be different paved the road to greater freedom in obtaining a higher education and then selecting a career. In the 1930’s women worked mainly in domestic and agricultural positions. This held especially true for African American women. The average weekly wage for white women in these jobs was $8.45 versus $5.60 for black women.
World War II provided women with greater opportunities for work outside of the home in a variety of fields. As men went to war, women took their places in factories and ammunitions plants such as the Ford, Bacon and Davis plant in Jacksonville or the Pine Bluff Arsenal. In 1943, state legislators limited the workweek of women in private industry to fifty-four hours per week and required certain industries to pay women time and a half after forty-eight hours. After the war, women realized they enjoyed the autonomy they received from their jobs and income and desired to keep working despite the federal government’s attempts to force them back into the home.
By 1970, more than a quarter million Arkansas women worked, comprising 38% of the state workforce. While most women workers continued to hold clerical positions, African Americans remained employed as domestics. Today Arkansas women work in a wide variety of occupations. While the majority of women work in retail and wholesale sales, technical or administrative support, fewer women in Arkansas work in these fields than in comparison to the nation. Arkansas also negates the national trends in that more women work in factories and fewer work in professional and management fields. When asked about job opportunities, however, while most women recognized that they vary regionally; many women believe that all jobs are open to them.
Law & Politics
The seventy-year period between the Great Depression and the Millennium has seen many changes for women in Arkansas and the nation regarding laws that affect the lives of women.
Arkansas women legally participated in the state primary elections of May 1918. The efforts of the Arkansas Woman Suffrage State Central Committee planted seeds of change that grew into a movement to empower females. In 1934, while the nation rebounded from serious economic challenges, the town of Washington, Arkansas elected a female mayor and an all-female town council.
In 1938 Arkansas became the first in the South to reach their capacity of women in its Works Progress Administration (WPA) program. They housed one of only five National Youth Administration Camps for young black women under the WPA’s supervision. The camp was named for Mary McLeod Bethune, director of the National Youth Administration Negro Division. It offered liberal arts and vocational training classes. Young women were also introduced to outdoor living skills and an emphasis was placed on individual self-worth by organizing motivational speakers to address the women.
The Central High Crisis at Little Rock in 1957 could be called the flame that ignited the fires of political empowerment and leadership, inspiring women to stand and take notice of issues directly affecting their lives. Daisy L. Gatson Bates, the state president of the NAACP, and Adolphine Fletcher Terry, who organized the WEC (Women’s Emergency Committee), stood out as leaders during these turbulent times.
Paul Van Dalsem, Representative from Perry County, was criticized by the American Association of University Women in 1963 for a speech he made to a Little Rock Civic Club. Van Dalsem assured the audience that when any Perry County woman began “poking around in something she doesn’t know anything about…we get her pregnant and keep her barefoot.” When Van Dalsem was defeated in 1966, it was seen as a triumph for good government, rather than as a blow for women’s rights. Van Dalsem submitted the resolution for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Legislators who may have been sympathetic to the ERA may also have been contemptuous of the representative, delaying consideration of the resolution. The delay allowed opposition to mount and the ERA resolution never gained a roll-call vote.
In 1964, Dorathy Allen of Brinkley was elected as the first female state senator. Over the next thirty-five years, no more than one woman served during a senate session. In 1999, the Arkansas Senate was the only all-male legislative chamber in the nation.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did not bring federal monitors to Arkansas because the state met the basic requirements through the registration of over half of its adult voters and because of the lack of a literacy requirement. Arkansas was still recovering from post-segregation trauma when a pizza delivery sparked a community boycott of white-owned businesses, which lasted a year. An African-American school employee refused to accept and pay for a pizza she did not order and was arrested for her action. This incident was the match that ignited the anger of long smothering feelings of displacement and injustice in the community of Mariana, Arkansas. At issue were the general indignities perceived by the community in matters as varied as education and health care. The explosiveness of the situation demanded the attention of the governor.
Lottie Shackelford, a black female, became the first woman to serve as Mayor of Little Rock. The end of the century also showcased Blanche Lincoln’s election win of a U.S. Senate seat, the first popularly elected female senator since Hattie Caraway won the seat in 1932.
By the end of the century, Arkansas still had not elected a female attorney general, lieutenant governor, or governor, and no African-American had filled any of the seven state constitutional offices.
The longest serving first lady of Arkansas, Hillary Rodham Clinton, moved to our nation’s capitol to duplicate her role. Her election as a New York Senator made her the only first lady to make the transition from the White House to the Senate Chambers in a popular election.
The political face of Arkansas may soon change. In 1998 the Census Bureau estimated that nearly 50,000 Hispanics lived in Arkansas, with a large concentration in the Little Rock area. As they adapt to their new home, their voices will also be heard among the throngs of Arkansans who speak in individual tones as well as collective ones.
For more information:
Johnson, III, Ben F., Arkansas In Modern America: 1930-1999, University of Arkansas Press, 2000.
Bates, Daisy, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, University of Arkansas Press, 1986.
Murphy, Sara Alderman, Breaking the Silence, University of Arkansas Press, 1997.