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6 Essays on Women's History

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Check out the following 6 blog posts in which the contributions of a number of key figures from women’s history are discussed. Together, these posts shed light on some of the unique ways that women have helped to shape the political landscapes of multiple countries and the experiences of workers in industries including the teaching profession itself.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Unsung Woman of the Civil Rights Movement   Facing History Cleveland recently offered a riveting professional development webinar to Ohio-based educators called “Standing on Their Shoulders: Unsung Women of the Civil Rights Movement.” There, Program Director Pamela Donaldson and Senior Program Associate Lisa Lefstein-Berusch provided educators with strategies and frameworks they can use to broaden students’ knowledge of the contributions Black women made to the movement, as well as deepen students’ understanding of specific strategies that have driven social change.

Dolores Huerta's Life of Indefatigable Resistance A powerful story that is often left out of news stories and history books is that of Dolores Huerta—a Chicana activist whose contributions rival those of the most renowned civil rights leaders in U.S. history, but whose legacy is significantly less known. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and nine honorary doctorates, Huerta is a living legend in the labor movement and has been a tireless advocate for social justice for over 50 years.

Remembering Daisy Bates: Orator at the March on Washington The March on Washington was the historic 1963 protest in which as many as 500,000 people marched to demand jobs and freedom for Americans of all racial backgrounds. Though many of us remember this as the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, it is easy to forget that he was not the only civil rights leader to address the crowd. One of the leaders who joined him was movement veteran Daisy Bates—the only woman permitted to speak, though not in her own words.

How One Lesbian Couple Defied the Nazis: An Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Jackson We spoke with Dr. Jeffrey Jackson—Professor of History at Rhodes College and author of  Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis . In this interview. Dr. Jackson discusses the untold story of Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, a French lesbian couple who intervened in the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands through an expansive artistic campaign during World War II. Better known to art historians by their adopted names of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Schwob and Malherbe’s story of resistance is told for the first time in Dr. Jackson’s new book. Here he shares a first look at their incredible story with Facing History.

Women's Suffrage at 100: The Key Role of Black Sororities Tuesday, August 18, 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment established women's suffrage for the first time, granting white women across the country the right to vote to the exclusion of non-white women. Yet the women's suffrage movement contained many more key players than this outcome suggests. Among them were African American luminaries like Mary Church Terrell and the scores of Black women who joined with her to demand equal rights.

Teaching in the Light of Women's History Though we often think of Women’s History Month as a time to prioritize women’s voices and contributions in the classroom, this month is also a time to examine the profound ways in which women teachers, and broader perceptions of women, have shaped the teaching profession itself. From contemporary perceptions of the profession and the compensation of its workers, to the grounds for collective action that American teachers now enjoy, none can be understood outside the patriarchal context in which modern schooling emerged and women demanded justice. Examining this history offers not only a richer understanding of the challenges faced by today’s teachers, but reveals places where we must continue to disrupt patriarchal rhetoric if we are to cultivate school communities that do right by teachers and students. 

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Women’s history

World history.

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In the 19th century, women’s history would have been inconceivable, because “history” was so closely identified with war , diplomacy, and high politics—from all of which women were virtually excluded. Although there had been notable queens and regents—such as Elizabeth I of England , Catherine de Medici of France, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Christina of Sweden —their gender was considered chiefly when it came to forming marriage alliances or bearing royal heirs. Inevitably, the ambition to write history “from the bottom up” and to bring into focus those marginalized by previous historiography inspired the creation of women’s history.

One of the consequences of the professionalization of history in the 19th century was the exclusion of women from academic history writing. A career like that of Catherine Macaulay (1731–91), one of the more prominent historians of 18th-century England, was impossible one hundred years later, when historical writing had been essentially monopolized by all-male universities and research institutes. This exclusion began to break down in the late 19th century as women’s colleges were founded in England (e.g., at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge) and the United States . Some of these institutions, such as Bryn Mawr College in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, had strong research agendas.

Although the earliest academic women’s historians were drawn to writing about women, it cannot be said that they founded, or even that they were interested in founding, a specialty like “women’s history.” Alice Clark wrote Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (1920), and Eileen Power wrote Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 (1922), a definitive monograph, and Medieval Women (published posthumously in 1975). Many women (including some in the early history of the Annales ) worked as unpaid research assistants and cowriters for their husbands, and it is doubtless that they were deprived of credit for being historians in their own right. An exception was Mary Ritter Beard (1876–1958), who coauthored a number of books with her more famous husband, Charles Beard , and also wrote Women as a Force in History , arguably the first general work in American women’s history.

Since it was still possible in the 1950s to doubt that there was enough significant evidence on which to develop women’s history, it is not surprising that some of the earliest work was what is called “contribution history.” It focused, in other words, on the illustrious actions of women in occupations traditionally dominated by men. The other preoccupation was the status of women at various times in the past. This was customarily evaluated in terms of comparative incomes, laws about ownership of property, and the degree of social freedom allowed within marriage or to unmarried women. In The Creation of Patriarchy (1986), Gerda Lerner, whose work chiefly concerned women in the United States, examined Mesopotamian society in an attempt to discover the ancient roots of the subjection of women. Explorations of the status of women also contributed to a rethinking of fundamental historical concepts, as in Joan Kelly’s essay “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” (1977).

Another area of study, which was curiously slow to emerge, was the history of the family. Since in all times most women have been wives and mothers for most of their adult lives, this most nearly universal of female experiences would seem to dictate that women’s historians would be especially interested in the history of the family. Yet for a long time few of them were. The history of the family was inspired primarily not by women’s history but by advances made in historical demography, whose heavy quantification women’s history generally avoided.

This partly explains why the majority of works in women’s history have dealt with unmarried women—as workers for wages, nuns, lesbians, and those involved in passionate friendships. Evidence concerning the lives of these figures is in some ways easier to come by than evidence of maternal and family life, but it is also clear that feminist historians were averse to studying women as victims of matrimony—as they all too often were. There are, however, intersections between history of the family and women’s history. A few historians have written works on family limitation ( birth control ) in the United States, for example; one of these scholars, Linda Gordon, raised the important question of why suffragists and other feminists did not as a rule support campaigns for family limitation.

Another way in which women’s history can lead to a reassessment of history in general is by analyzing the concept of gender. Joan Scott has taken the lead in this effort. Gender, according to Scott and many others, is a socially constructed category for both men and women, whereas sex is a biological category denoting the presence or absence of certain chromosomes. Even physical differences between the sexes can be exaggerated (all fetuses start out female), but differences in gender are bound to be of greatest interest to historians. Of particular interest to women’s historians are what might be called “gender systems,” which can be engines of oppression for both men and women.

World history is the most recent historical specialty, yet one with roots in remote antiquity. The great world religions that originated in the Middle East— Judaism , Christianity , and Islam —insisted on the unity of humanity, a theme encapsulated in the story of Adam and Eve . Buddhism also presumed an ecumenical view of humankind. The universal histories that characterized medieval chronicles proposed a single story line for the human race , governed by divine providence; and these persisted, in far more sophisticated form, in the speculative philosophies of history of Vico and Hegel. Marxism too, although it saw no divine hand in history, nevertheless held out a teleological vision in which all humanity would eventually overcome the miseries arising from class conflict and leave the kingdom of necessity for the kingdom of plenty.

These philosophies have left their mark on world history, yet few historians (except for Marxists) now accept any of these master narratives. This fact, however, leads to a conceptual dilemma: if there is no single story in which all of humanity finds a part, how can there be any coherence in world history? What prevents it from simply being a congeries of national—or at the most regional—histories?

Modernization theorists have embraced one horn of this dilemma. There is, after all, a single story, they argue; it is worldwide Westernization. Acknowledging the worth of non-Western cultures and the great non-European empires of the past, they nevertheless see the lure of Western consumer goods—and the power of multinational corporations—as irresistible. This triumphalist view of Western economic and political institutions drew great new strength from the downfall of the managed economies of eastern Europe and the emergence in China of blatant state capitalism . It is easier to claim worldwide success for capitalism than for democracy , since capitalism has been perfectly compatible with the existence of autocratic governments in Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong; but history does suggest that eventually capitalist institutions will give rise to some species of democratic institutions, even though multinational corporations are among the most secretive and hierarchical institutions in Western society.

Modernization theory has been propounded much more enthusiastically by sociologists and political scientists than by historians. Its purest expression was The Dynamics of Modernization (1966), by Cyril Edwin Black, which made its case by studying social indexes of modernization, such as literacy or family limitation over time, in developing countries. Extending this argument in a somewhat Hegelian fashion, the American historian Francis Fukuyama provocatively suggested, in The End of History and the Last Man (1992), that history itself, as traditionally conceived, had ceased. This, of course, meant not that there would be no more events but that the major issues of state formation and economic organization had now been decisively settled in favour of capitalism and democracy . Fukuyama was by no means a simple-minded cheerleader for this denouement; life in a world composed of nothing but liberal nation-states would be, among other things, boring.

A much grimmer aspect of modernization was highlighted by Theodore H. Von Laue (1987) in The World Revolution of Westernization . Von Laue focused on the stresses imposed on the rest of the world by Westernization, which he saw as the root cause of communism , Nazism , dictatorships in developing countries, and terrorism . He declined to forecast whether these strains would continue indefinitely.

The stock objection to modernization theory is that it is Eurocentric. So it is, but this is hardly a refutation of it. That European states (including Russia) and the United States have been the dominant world powers since the 19th century is just as much a fact as that Europe was a somewhat insignificant peninsula of Asia in the 12th century. Some modernization theorists have caused offense by making it clear that they think European dominance is good for everybody, but it is noteworthy how many share the disillusioned view of the German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), who compared the rational bureaucracies that increasingly dominated European society to an “iron cage.” More-valid criticisms point to the simplistic character of modernization theory and to the persistence and even rejuvenation of ostensibly “premodern” features of society—notably religious fundamentalism .

A considerably more complex scheme of analysis, world-systems theory, was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein in The Modern World System (1974). Whereas modernization theory holds that economic development will eventually percolate throughout the world, Wallerstein believed that the most economically active areas largely enriched themselves at the expense of their peripheries . This was an adaptation of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ’s idea that the struggle between classes in capitalist Europe had been to some degree displaced into the international economy, so that Russia and China filled the role of proletarian countries. Wallerstein’s work was centred on the period when European capitalism first extended itself to Africa and the Americas, but he emphasized that world-systems theory could be applied to earlier systems that Europeans did not dominate. In fact, the economist André Gunder Frank argued for an ancient world-system and therefore an early tension between core and periphery . He also pioneered the application of world-systems theory to the 20th century, holding that “underdevelopment” was not merely a form of lagging behind but resulted from the exploitative economic power of industrialized countries. This “development of underdevelopment,” or “dependency theory,” supplied a plot for world history, but it was one without a happy ending for the majority of humanity. Like modernization theory, world-systems theory has been criticized as Eurocentric. More seriously, the evidence for it has been questioned by many economists, and while it has been fertile in suggesting questions, its answers have been controversial.

A true world history requires that there be connections between different areas of the world, and trade relations constitute one such connection. Historians and sociologists have revealed the early importance of African trade (Columbus visited the west coast of Africa before his voyages to the Americas, and he already saw the possibilities of the slave trade), and they have also illuminated the 13th-century trading system centring on the Indian Ocean , to which Europe was peripheral .

Humans encounter people from far away more often in commercial relationships than in any other, but they exchange more than goods. William H. McNeill , the most eminent world historian, saw these exchanges as the central motif of world history. Technological information is usually coveted by the less adept, and it can often be stolen when it is not offered. Religious ideas can also be objects of exchange. In later work, McNeill investigated the communication of infectious diseases as an important part of the story of the human species. In this he contributed to an increasingly lively field of historical studies that might loosely be called ecological history.

Focusing on the biological substrate of history can sometimes capture a vital element of common humanity. This was an early topic for the Annales historians, who were often trained in geography . Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie grounded his great history of the peasants of Languedoc in the soil and climate of that part of France , showing how the human population of the ancien régime was limited by the carrying capacity of the land. He went on to write a history of the climate since the year 1000. Even more influential were the magisterial works of Fernand Braudel (1902–85), perhaps the greatest historian of the 20th century. Braudel’s La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de Philippe II (1949; The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II ) had a political component, but it seemed almost an afterthought. Although it was not a world history, its comprehensive treatment of an entire region comprising Muslim and Christian realms and the fringes of three continents succeeded in showing how they shared a similar environment . The environment assumed an even greater role in Braudel’s Civilisation matérielle et capitalisme, XVe–XVIIIe siècle (vol. 1, 1967; vol. 2–3, 1979; Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century ). Although some of its claims seemed designed to shock conventional historical sensibilities—the introduction of forks into Europe, he wrote, was more important than the Reformation—no historical work has done more to explore the entire material base on which civilizations arise

One of the most important links between ecological history and world history is the so-called Columbian exchange , through which pathogens from the Americas entered Europe and those from Europe devastated the indigenous populations of the Americas. The Native Americans got much the worse of this exchange; the population of Mexico suffered catastrophic losses, and that of some Caribbean islands was totally destroyed. The effect on Europeans was much less severe. It is now thought that syphilis entered Europe from Asia, not the Americas.

Overt moralizing in historiography tends to attract professional criticism , and historians in Europe and the United States, where nation-states have long been established, no longer feel the moral obligation that their 19th-century predecessors did to exalt nationalism . They can therefore respond to global concerns, such as the clear-cutting of rainforests and global warming . It has become obvious that the world is a single ecosystem, and this may require and eventually evoke a corresponding world history.

There is, however, a powerful countertendency: subaltern history . Subaltern is a word used by the British army to denote a subordinate officer, and “subaltern studies” was coined by Indian scholars to describe a variety of approaches to the situation of South Asia , in particular in the colonial and postcolonial era. A common feature of these approaches is the claim that, though colonialism ended with the granting of independence to the former colonies of Britain , France, the United States, and other empires, imperialism did not. Instead, the imperial powers continued to exert so much cultural and economic hegemony that the independence of the former colonies was more notional than real. Insisting on free trade (unlimited access to the domestic markets of the former colonies) and anticommunism (usually enforced by autocratic governments), the old empires, as the subaltern theorists saw it, had reverted to the sort of indirect rule that the British had exerted over Argentina and other countries in the 19th century.

The other belief that united subaltern theorists is that this hegemony should be challenged. Orientalism (1978), by the literary critic Edward Said , announced many of the themes of subaltern studies. The Orient that Said discussed was basically the Middle East , and the Orientalism was the body of fact, opinion, and prejudice accumulated by western European scholars in their encounter with it. Said stressed the enormous appetite for this lore, which influenced painting, literature, and anthropology no less than history. It was, of course, heavily coloured by racism , but perhaps the most insidious aspect of it, in Said’s view, was that Western categories not only informed the production of knowledge but also were accepted by the colonized countries (or those nominally independent but culturally subordinate). The importation of Rankean historiography into Japan and Russia is an example. The result has been described rather luridly as epistemological rape, in that the whole cultural stock of colonized peoples came to be discredited.

Although originally and most thoroughly applied to the Middle East and South Asia, subaltern history is capable of extension to any subordinated population, and it has been influential in histories of women and of African Americans . Its main challenge to world history is that most subaltern theorists deny the possibility of any single master narrative that could form a plot for world history. This entails at least a partial break with Marxism, which is exactly such a narrative. Instead, most see a postmodern developing world with a congeries of national or tribal histories, without closures or conventional narratives, whose unity, if it has one at all, was imposed by the imperialist power.

The project of bringing the experience of subordinated people into history has been common in postwar historiography, often in the form of emphasizing their contributions to activities usually associated with elites. Such an effort does not challenge—indeed relies on—ordinary categories of historical understanding and the valuation placed on these activities by society. This has seemed to some subaltern theorists to implicate the historian in the very oppressive system that ought to be combated. The most extreme partisans of this combative stance claim that, in order to resist the hegemonic powers, the way that history is done has to be changed. Some feminists, for example, complain that the dominant system of logic was invented by men and violates the categories of thought most congenial to women. This is one of the reasons for the currency and success of postmodernist and postcolonialist thought. It licenses accounts of the past that call themselves histories but that may deviate wildly from conventional historical practice.

Such histories have been particularly associated with a “nativist” school of subaltern studies that rejects as “Western” the knowledge accumulated under the auspices of imperialism. An instructive example was the effort by Afrocentric historians to emphasize the possible Egyptian and Phoenician origins of classical Greek thought. Martin Bernal , for example, tried to show in Black Athena (1987) that the racist and anti-Semitic Orientalist discourse of the late 19th century (particularly but not exclusively in Germany ) obscured the borrowings of the classical Greeks from their Semitic and African neighbours. That there were borrowings, and that Orientalist discourse was racist and anti-Semitic, is beyond doubt, but these are findings made through ordinary historical investigation—whose conventions Bernal did not violate, despite the speculative character of some of his conclusions. How much distortion there was would also seem to be an ordinary, though difficult, historical question (made more difficult by the claim that the Egyptians had an esoteric and unwritten philosophical tradition that has left no documentary traces but that may have been imparted to Greek thinkers). But no historian could accept the claim that Aristotle gained knowledge from the library at Alexandria , since it was not built until after his death. If the idea that effects cannot precede causes is merely a culture-bound presupposition of Western-trained historians, then there is no logical basis for rejecting even a claim such as this. The nativist subaltern historians deserve credit at least for raising this issue (though, of course, not with such extreme examples). However, the price to be paid is high: if there are no logical categories that are not culture-bound, then people from different cultures cannot have a meaningful argument—or agreement—because these require at least some mutual acceptance of what will count as evidence and how reasoning is to be done . Most subaltern historians have therefore steered between the Scylla of contribution history and the Charybdis of nativism, and their emphasis on studying the mass of the people rather than colonial elites has had a powerful effect not only on the history of Asia and Africa but also on that of Europe and even the United States.

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American Women: Topical Essays

“with peace and freedom blest”: woman as symbol in america, 1590-1800.

• Introduction
• American Women: An Overview
• Marching for the Vote: Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
• Sentiments of an American Woman
• The House That Marian Built: The MacDowell Colony of Peterborough, New Hampshire
• Women On The Move: Overland Journeys to California
• The Long Road to Equality: What Women Won from the ERA Ratification Effort

Women, History, and Theory

The essays of joan kelly.

190 pages | 5.30 x 8.40 | © 1986

Women in Culture and Society

History: General History

Women's Studies

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The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all

As we celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, we should also celebrate the major strides women have made in the labor market. Their entry into paid work has been a major factor in America’s prosperity over the past century and a quarter.

Despite this progress, evidence suggests that many women remain unable to achieve their goals. The gap in earnings between women and men, although smaller than it was years ago, is still significant; women continue to be underrepresented in certain industries and occupations; and too many women struggle to combine aspirations for work and family. Further advancement has been hampered by barriers to equal opportunity and workplace rules and norms that fail to support a reasonable work-life balance. If these obstacles persist, we will squander the potential of many of our citizens and incur a substantial loss to the productive capacity of our economy at a time when the aging of the population and weak productivity growth are already weighing on economic growth.

A historical perspective on women in the labor force

In the early 20th century, most women in the United States did not work outside the home, and those who did were primarily young and unmarried. In that era, just 20 percent of all women were “gainful workers,” as the Census Bureau then categorized labor force participation outside the home, and only 5 percent of those married were categorized as such. Of course, these statistics somewhat understate the contributions of married women to the economy beyond housekeeping and childrearing, since women’s work in the home often included work in family businesses and the home production of goods, such as agricultural products, for sale. Also, the aggregate statistics obscure the differential experience of women by race. African American women were about twice as likely to participate in the labor force as were white women at the time, largely because they were more likely to remain in the labor force after marriage.

If these obstacles persist, we will squander the potential of many of our citizens and incur a substantial loss to the productive capacity of our economy at a time when the aging of the population and weak productivity growth are already weighing on economic growth.

The fact that many women left work upon marriage reflected cultural norms, the nature of the work available to them, and legal strictures. The occupational choices of those young women who did work were severely circumscribed. Most women lacked significant education—and women with little education mostly toiled as piece workers in factories or as domestic workers, jobs that were dirty and often unsafe. Educated women were scarce. Fewer than 2 percent of all 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in an institution of higher education, and just one-third of those were women. Such women did not have to perform manual labor, but their choices were likewise constrained.

Despite the widespread sentiment against women, particularly married women, working outside the home and with the limited opportunities available to them, women did enter the labor force in greater numbers over this period, with participation rates reaching nearly 50 percent for single women by 1930 and nearly 12 percent for married women. This rise suggests that while the incentive—and in many cases the imperative—remained for women to drop out of the labor market at marriage when they could rely on their husband’s income, mores were changing. Indeed, these years overlapped with the so-called first wave of the women’s movement, when women came together to agitate for change on a variety of social issues, including suffrage and temperance, and which culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 guaranteeing women the right to vote.

Between the 1930s and mid-1970s, women’s participation in the economy continued to rise, with the gains primarily owing to an increase in work among married women. By 1970, 50 percent of single women and 40 percent of married women were participating in the labor force. Several factors contributed to this rise. First, with the advent of mass high school education, graduation rates rose substantially. At the same time, new technologies contributed to an increased demand for clerical workers, and these jobs were increasingly taken on by women. Moreover, because these jobs tended to be cleaner and safer, the stigma attached to work for a married woman diminished. And while there were still marriage bars that forced women out of the labor force, these formal barriers were gradually removed over the period following World War II.

Over the decades from 1930 to 1970, increasing opportunities also arose for highly educated women. That said, early in that period, most women still expected to have short careers, and women were still largely viewed as secondary earners whose husbands’ careers came first.

As time progressed, attitudes about women working and their employment prospects changed. As women gained experience in the labor force, they increasingly saw that they could balance work and family. A new model of the two-income family emerged. Some women began to attend college and graduate school with the expectation of working, whether or not they planned to marry and have families.

By the 1970s, a dramatic change in women’s work lives was under way. In the period after World War II, many women had not expected that they would spend as much of their adult lives working as turned out to be the case. By contrast, in the 1970s young women more commonly expected that they would spend a substantial portion of their lives in the labor force, and they prepared for it, increasing their educational attainment and taking courses and college majors that better equipped them for careers as opposed to just jobs.

These changes in attitudes and expectations were supported by other changes under way in society. Workplace protections were enhanced through the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 and the recognition of sexual harassment in the workplace. Access to birth control increased, which allowed married couples greater control over the size of their families and young women the ability to delay marriage and to plan children around their educational and work choices. And in 1974, women gained, for the first time, the right to apply for credit in their own name without a male co-signer.

By the early 1990s, the labor force participation rate of prime working-age women—those between the ages of 25 and 54—reached just over 74 percent, compared with roughly 93 percent for prime working-age men. By then, the share of women going into the traditional fields of teaching, nursing, social work, and clerical work declined, and more women were becoming doctors, lawyers, managers, and professors. As women increased their education and joined industries and occupations formerly dominated by men, the gap in earnings between women and men began to close significantly.

Remaining challenges and some possible solutions

We, as a country, have reaped great benefits from the increasing role that women have played in the economy. But evidence suggests that barriers to women’s continued progress remain. The participation rate for prime working-age women peaked in the late 1990s and currently stands at about 76 percent. Of course, women, particularly those with lower levels of education, have been affected by the same economic forces that have been pushing down participation among men, including technical change and globalization. However, women’s participation plateaued at a level well below that of prime working-age men, which stands at about 89 percent. While some married women choose not to work, the size of this disparity should lead us to examine the extent to which structural problems, such as a lack of equal opportunity and challenges to combining work and family, are holding back women’s advancement.

Recent research has shown that although women now enter professional schools in numbers nearly equal to men, they are still substantially less likely to reach the highest echelons of their professions.

The gap in earnings between men and women has narrowed substantially, but progress has slowed lately, and women working full time still earn about 17 percent less than men, on average, each week. Even when we compare men and women in the same or similar occupations who appear nearly identical in background and experience, a gap of about 10 percent typically remains. As such, we cannot rule out that gender-related impediments hold back women, including outright discrimination, attitudes that reduce women’s success in the workplace, and an absence of mentors.

Recent research has shown that although women now enter professional schools in numbers nearly equal to men, they are still substantially less likely to reach the highest echelons of their professions. Even in my own field of economics, women constitute only about one-third of Ph.D. recipients, a number that has barely budged in two decades. This lack of success in climbing the professional ladder would seem to explain why the wage gap actually remains largest for those at the top of the earnings distribution.

One of the primary factors contributing to the failure of these highly skilled women to reach the tops of their professions and earn equal pay is that top jobs in fields such as law and business require longer workweeks and penalize taking time off. This would have a disproportionately large effect on women who continue to bear the lion’s share of domestic and child-rearing responsibilities.

But it can be difficult for women to meet the demands in these fields once they have children. The very fact that these types of jobs require such long hours likely discourages some women—as well as men—from pursuing these career tracks. Advances in technology have facilitated greater work-sharing and flexibility in scheduling, and there are further opportunities in this direction. Economic models also suggest that while it can be difficult for any one employer to move to a model with shorter hours, if many firms were to change their model, they and their workers could all be better off.

Of course, most women are not employed in fields that require such long hours or that impose such severe penalties for taking time off. But the difficulty of balancing work and family is a widespread problem. In fact, the recent trend in many occupations is to demand complete scheduling flexibility, which can result in too few hours of work for those with family demands and can make it difficult to schedule childcare. Reforms that encourage companies to provide some predictability in schedules, cross-train workers to perform different tasks, or require a minimum guaranteed number of hours in exchange for flexibility could improve the lives of workers holding such jobs. Another problem is that in most states, childcare is affordable for fewer than half of all families. And just 5 percent of workers with wages in the bottom quarter of the wage distribution have jobs that provide them with paid family leave. This circumstance puts many women in the position of having to choose between caring for a sick family member and keeping their jobs.

This possibility should inform our own thinking about policies to make it easier for women and men to combine their family and career aspirations. For instance, improving access to affordable and good quality childcare would appear to fit the bill, as it has been shown to support full-time employment. Recently, there also seems to be some momentum for providing families with paid leave at the time of childbirth. The experience in Europe suggests picking policies that do not narrowly target childbirth, but instead can be used to meet a variety of health and caregiving responsibilities.

The United States faces a number of longer-term economic challenges, including the aging of the population and the low growth rate of productivity. One recent study estimates that increasing the female participation rate to that of men would raise our gross domestic product by 5 percent. Our workplaces and families, as well as women themselves, would benefit from continued progress. However, a number of factors appear to be holding women back, including the difficulty women currently have in trying to combine their careers with other aspects of their lives, including caregiving. In looking to solutions, we should consider improvements to work environments and policies that benefit not only women, but all workers. Pursuing such a strategy would be in keeping with the story of the rise in women’s involvement in the workforce, which has contributed not only to their own well-being but more broadly to the welfare and prosperity of our country.

This essay is a revised version of a speech that Janet Yellen, then chair of the Federal Reserve, delivered on May 5, 2017 at the “125 Years of Women at Brown Conference,” sponsored by Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Yellen would like to thank Stephanie Aaronson, now vice president and director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, for her assistance in the preparation of the original remarks. Read the full text of the speech here »

About the Author

Janet l. yellen, distinguished fellow in residence – economic studies, the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary policy, more from janet yellen.

Former Fed chair Janet Yellen on gender and racial diversity of the federal government’s economists

Janet Yellen delivered this remark at the public event, “The gender and racial diversity of the federal government’s economists” by Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings on September 23, 2019. 

The gender and racial diversity of the federal government’s economists

The lack of diversity in the field of economics – in addition to the lack of progress relative to other STEM fields – is drawing increasing attention in the profession, but nearly all the focus has been on economists at academic institutions, and little attention has been devoted to the diversity of the economists employed […]

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General (ret.) Lori J. Robinson and Michael O’Hanlon discuss the strides made toward greater participation of women in the U.S. military, and the work still to be done to ensure equitable experiences for all service members.

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Middle-class incomes have risen modestly in recent decades, and most of any gains in their incomes are the result of more working women. Isabel Sawhill and Katherine Guyot explain the important role women play in middle class households and the challenges they face, including family “time squeeze.”

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Susan B. Anthony

Champion of temperance, abolition, the rights of labor, and equal pay for equal work, Susan Brownell Anthony became one of the most visible leaders of the women’s suffrage movement . Along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton , she traveled around the country delivering speeches in favor of women's suffrage.

Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her father, Daniel, was a farmer and later a cotton mill owner and manager and was raised as a Quaker. Her mother, Lucy, came from a family that fought in the American Revolution and served in the Massachusetts state government. From an early age, Anthony was inspired by the Quaker belief that everyone was equal under God. That idea guided her throughout her life. She had seven brothers and sisters, many of whom became activists for justice and emancipation of slaves. 

After many years of teaching, Anthony returned to her family who had moved to New York State. There she met William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass , who were friends of her father. Listening to them moved Susan to want to do more to help end slavery. She became an abolition activist, even though most people thought it was improper for women to give speeches in public. Anthony made many passionate speeches against slavery.

In 1848, a group of women held a convention at Seneca Falls , New York. It was the first Women’s Rights Convention in the United States and began the Suffrage movement. Her mother and sister attended the convention but Anthony did not. In 1851, Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. T he two women became good friends and worked together for over 50 years fighting for women’s rights. They traveled the country and Anthony gave speeches demanding that women be given the right to vote. At times, she risked being arrested for sharing her ideas in public.

Anthony was good at strategy. Her discipline, energy, and ability to organize made her a strong and successful leader. Anthony and Stanton co-founded the American Equal Rights Association. In 1868 they became editors of the Association’s newspaper, The Revolution , which helped to spread the ideas of equality and rights for women. Anthony began to lecture to raise money for publishing the newspaper and to support the suffrage movement. She became famous throughout the county. Many people admired her, yet others hated her ideas.

When Congress passed the 14 th and 15 th amendments  which give voting rights to African American men, Anthony and Stanton were angry and opposed the legislation because it did not include the right to vote for women. Their belief led them to split from other suffragists. They thought the amendments should also have given women the right to vote. They formed the National Woman Suffrage Association , to push for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting. She was tried and fined $100 for her crime. This made many people angry and brought national attention to the suffrage movement. In 1876, she led a protest at the 1876 Centennial of our nation’s independence. She gave a speech—“Declaration of Rights”—written by Stanton and another suffragist, Matilda Joslyn Gage.

“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”

Anthony spent her life working for women’s rights. In 1888, she helped to merge the two largest suffrage associations into one, the National American Women’s Suffrage Association . She led the group until 1900. She traveled around the country giving speeches, gathering thousands of signatures on petitions, and lobbying Congress every year for women. Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19 th Amendment in 1920.

• Anthony, Susan. “Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States by the National Woman Suffrage Association, July 4th, 1876.” The Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony Papers Project. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/decl.html . Accessed May 2016. 
• “Biography of Susan B. Anthony.” National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php . Accessed May 2016.
• Lange, Allison. “Suffragist Organize: National Woman Suffrage Association.” National Women’s History Musuem. http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nwsa-organize/ . Accessed May 2016. 
• Lange, Allison. “Suffragist Unite: National American Woman Suffrage Association.” National Women’s History Museum. http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nawsa-united/ . Accessed May 2016.
• Mayo, Edith. “Rights for Women: The Suffrage Movement and Its Leaders.” National Women’s History Museum. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/index.html . Accessed May 2016.   
• “Susan B. Anthony.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/susan-b-anthony.htm . Accessed May 2016.
• PHOTO:  Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University .

MLA – Hayward, Nancy. “Susan B. Anthony.” National Women’s History Museum, 2017. Date accessed.

Chicago – Hayward, Nancy. “Susan B. Anthony.” National Women’s History Museum. 2017. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/susan-brownell-anthony.

• Crusade for the Vote, National Women's History Museum
• Rights for Women, National Women's History Museum
• Susan B. Anthony House
• 1873 Speech of Susan B. Anthony on woman suffrage
• Susan B. Anthony House, National Park Service
• Susan B. Anthony, National Women's Hall of Fame
• Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Project
• Public Broadcasting System (PBS) - "Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony"
• Trial of Susan B. Anthony
• Anthony, Susan B. The Trial of Susan B. Anthony (Humanity Books, 2003).
• Anthony, Katherine Susan. Susan B. Anthony: Her Personal History and Her Era (Russell & Russell, 1975).
• Barry, Kathleen. Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist (Authorhouse, 2000).
• Dubois, Ellen Carol. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony Reader: Correspondences, Writings and Speeches (Boston: Northeaster University Press, 1992).
• Harper, Ida. Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Beaufort books - 3 volume set).
• Isaacs, Sally Senzell. America in the Time of Susan B. Anthony: The Story of Our Nation from Coast to Coast (Heinemann Library, 2000).
• Monsell, Helen Albee. Susan B. Anthony: Champion Women's Rights (Aladdin, 1986).
• Sherr, Lynn. Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words (Three Rivers Press, 1996).
• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Ann De Gordon, and Susan B. Anthony. Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: In the School of Anti-Slavery, 1840-1866 (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997).
• Ward, Geoffery C. and Ken Burns. Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (Knopf, 2001).

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Related background, “when we sing, we announce our existence”: bernice johnson reagon and the american spiritual', mary church terrell , belva lockwood and the precedents she set for women’s rights, women’s rights lab: black women’s clubs.

National Archives News

Women’s History

Suffrage parade in Washington, DC, March 3, 1913. View in National Archives Catalog

Records in the National Archives document the great contributions that women have made to our nation. Learn about the history of women in the United States by exploring their stories through letters, photographs, film, and other primary sources. Explore the records featured here, and view selected images from the National Archives Catalog .

In 2020, the nation observed the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the states from denying the vote on the basis of sex. The exhibit Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote looked beyond suffrage parades and protests to the often overlooked story behind ratification. 

In support of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, we posted several video messages from notable women sharing their personal views about the 19th Amendment and addressing the complex history and legacy of this milestone anniversary. View the entire playlist on YouTube .

Women's Rights Topics

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Legislation and Advocacy

Notable Women

Additional Videos

Women’s History on the Horizon: The Centennial of Woman Suffrage in 2020

The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

Women’s Suffrage and the Vote: Funding Feminism

The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today

Temperance and Woman Suffrage: Reform Movements and the Women Who Changed America

Women and the Supreme Court

Women’s History Month Program: The Glass Ceiling, Broken or Cracked?

Women's History Month Spotlight: National Archives Employee Adrienne Thomas

"Feminism" and Women of Color, National Conversation on #RightsAndJustice  (Q&A with  Soledad O'Brien)

National Conversations on Rights and Justice Women's Rights and Gender Equality

The Declaration of Independence: A Conversation with a Conservator

Historical Footage

Women and the Spirit of '76 (1976)

Decade of Our Destiny: Women—A New Force for Change (1976)

American Women and Social Change—Women at Work   (1975)

Space for Women  (NASA, 1981)

Women in Defense (1941)

Women on the Warpath (1943)

Education Resources

Education Updates: Women’s Suffrage Posters & Displays

Education Updates:  New Women’s Rights Teaching Resources

DocsTeach activities on Women's Rights

DocsTeach page on "Rights in America,” with primary sources on Women's Rights

DocsTeach page on "1970s America,” with primary sources on Women's Rights

The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment

Failure Is Impossible, a one-act play

Women's Suffrage Party Petition

Examining Rosa Parks's Arrest Record

Harriet Tubman’s Claim for a Pension

Woman’s Place in America: Congress and Woman Suffrage

AOTUS: Remembering Cokie

Ford in Focus: I’ll Race You for It!

Forward with Roosevelt: A First Lady on the Front Lines

Forward with Roosevelt: Eleanor Roosevelt's Battle to End Lynching

Forward with Roosevelt: Missy LeHand: FDR’s Right Hand Woman

Hoover Heads: Tempest in a Teapot – Lou Henry Hoover and the DePriest Tea Incident

Hoover Heads: Who is Anne Martin?

JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Finding Inspiration in the Archives: Honoring Women at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Personal Recollections of Corinne “Lindy” Boggs

JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Restoring the Past in the White House: A Look at the Jacqueline Kennedy White House Restoration Project

NARAtions: The Making of Women’s Equality Day

Pieces of History:  On the Basis of Sex: Equal Credit Opportunities

Pieces of History:  On the Basis of Sex: Equal Pay

Pieces of History: Minnie Spotted Wolf

Pieces of History: The Hello Girls Finally Get Paid

Pieces of History: Finding the Girl in the Photograph

Pieces of History: Suffrage and Suffering at the 1913 March

   Explore more posts in Pieces of History

Reagan Library Education Blog: "Remembering the Ladies" Blog Series

Text Message: Meet Sgt. Eva Mirabal/Eah Ha Wa (Taos Pueblo); Women’s Army Corps Artist

Text Message: An Indigenous Woman’s Legal Fight After Forced Sterilization

Text Message: The Closed Door of Justice: African American Nurses and the Fight for Naval Service

Text Message: The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909

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Unwritten Record:  Queens of the Air: American Women Aviation Pioneers

Unwritten Record: Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Title IX with Archival Footage of Sporting Legends

Unwritten Record: International Worker’s Day and the Female Workforce

Unwritten Record: No Mail, Low Morale: The 6888th Central Postal Battalion

Unwritten Record: Their War Too: U.S. Women in the Military During WWII, part 1 and part 2

   Explore more in the Unwritten Record

Prologue Magazine Articles

From Slave Women to Free Women

View in National Archives Catalog

Winema and the Modoc War

“To the Rescue of the Crops”: The Women’s Land Army During World War II (16-G-323-4-N-4750)

Taking a Stand for Voting Rights

Belva Lockwood: Blazing the Trail for Women in Law

The Rejection of Elizabeth Mason: The Case of a “Free Colored” Revolutionary Widow

From Slave Women to Free Women: The National Archives and Black Women's History in the Civil War Era Women Soldiers of the Civil War

Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman’s Struggle for Peace

Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802–1940

When Saying "I Do" Meant Giving Up Your U.S. Citizenship

“Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married . . .” Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802–1940

The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War

World War I Gold Star Mothers, Part 1 ; Part 2

Women of the Polar Archives

“To the Rescue of the Crops”: The Women’s Land Army During World War II

Wearing Lipstick to War: An American Woman in World War II England and France

Women Workers in Wartime >

Online Exhibits

Rightfully Her: American Women and the Vote

Rightfully Hers,  created for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, looked beyond suffrage parades and protests to the often overlooked story behind ratification.

100th Anniversary of Jeannette Rankin as First Congresswoman

Jeannette Rankin's 1917 credentials as a Member of the House of Representatives were displayed at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Records of Rights

The Records of Rights  exhibit in Washington, DC, and online tells the story of women's rights.

The U.S. Food Administration, Women, and the Great War

Women played a key role in food conservation during World War I.

Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations

After leaving the White House Eleanor Roosevelt became the first woman to represent the United States as a delegate to the United Nations.

Amending America: Women's Rights

Explore selected stories about civil rights and individual freedoms featured at our National Conversation on #RightsAndJustice: Women's Rights and Gender Equality in New York City.

A People at War: Women Who Served

Although women were not allowed to participate in battle during World War II, they did serve in so-called "noncombat" missions in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).. These missions often proved to be extremely dangerous.

From the Presidential Libraries

Franklin d. roosevelt library.

Eleanor Roosevelt's Press Conferences  

It's Up To The Women  

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

Women in Politics in the 1950s

Jacqueline Cochran and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs)

Women Unite for Ike (online exhibit)

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

Records of the Commission on the Status of Women

JFK’s remarks on the President's Commission on the Status of Women’s Final Report

Resources on Women’s Rights

Gerald R. Ford Library

George w. bush library.

Gale A. Norton, First Woman to be Secretary of the Interior

Ann Veneman, Frst Woman to be Secretary of Agriculture

Condoleezza Rice, First African American Woman to be Secretary of State

Cristeta Comerford, First Woman to be Named White House Executive Chef

Elaine L. Chao, first Asian American woman to be Secretary of Labor

The First Lady & Her Role

Speeches by First Lady Laura Bush

Mrs. Laura Bush’s Leadership

Mrs. Bush's Remarks to Women CEOs

Laura Bush and the President’s Radio Address

First Lady Laura Bush’s radio address about treatment of women & children by the Taliban in Afghanistan

Flickr Sets

Women in World War II

Women’s Rights

Girl Scouts

Women’s Bureau

Selected Images

Astronauts Ellen Ochoa, Julie Payette and, Tamara Jernigan with a National Women's Party banner in the International Space Station in 1999. View in National Archives Catalog

Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson in Japan, May 22, 1953. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)

Frances Perkins meets with Carnegie Steel Workers, 1933. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)

First Lady Betty Ford with members of the National Women’s Party following the presentation of the first Alice Paul Award to Mrs. Ford in the Map Room at the White House, January 11, 1977.  View in National Archives Catalog  

Swearing-in ceremony for Madeleine Albright as Secretary of State, January 23, 1997 (Photo by Ralph Alswang). View in National Archives Catalog

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in the Oval Office, September 18, 2001 (Photo by Tina Hager). View in National Archives Catalog

Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021. In this picture, President Barack Obama greets Harris, then California's Attorney General, at a White House meeting on criminal justice on April 4, 2014. View in National Archives Catalog

A woman works on Liberty airplane engines at the Packard Motor Company in Detroit during World War I. View in National Archives Catalog

Amelia Earhart, July 30, 1936. View in National Archives Catalog

Three female lumberjacks walk up a log chute from Turkey Pond in New Hampshire, November 10, 1942. They had been rolling logs in the pond, pulling them to the log chute. View in National Archives Catalog

Native American women served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Left to right: Minnie Spotted Wolf (Blackfeet), Celia Mix (Potawatomi), and Violet Eastman (Chippewa). View in National Archives Catalog

Maj. Charity E. Adams and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell inspect women of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion, assigned to duty in England, February 1945. View in National Archives Catalog

Native women of the village of Ambler ice fishing for whitefish. View in National Archives Catalog

A woman scientist working for NASA, October 17, 1978 (Photo by Hank Seidel). View in National Archives Catalog

Blanca Tomé of the National Archives Document Preservation Branch, 1974. View in National Archives Catalog

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Gendered domains : rethinking public and private in women's history : essays from the Seventh Berkshire Conference on the History of Women

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Women Who Shaped History

A Smithsonian magazine special report

History | July 9, 2024

Meet Vivian Maier, the Reclusive Nanny Who Secretly Became One of the Best Street Photographers of the 20th Century

The self-taught artist is getting her first museum exhibition in New York City, where she nurtured her nascent interest in photography

Ellen Wexler

Assistant Editor, Humanities

Vivian Maier took more than 150,000 photographs as she scoured the streets of New York and Chicago. She rarely looked at them; often, she didn’t even develop the negatives. Without any formal training, she created a sprawling body of work that demonstrated a wholly original way of looking at the world. Today, she is considered one of the best street photographers of the 20th century.

Maier’s photos provide audiences with a tantalizing peek behind the curtain into a remarkable mind. But she never intended to have an audience. A nanny by trade, she rarely showed anyone her prints. In her final years, she stashed five decades of work in storage lockers, which she eventually stopped paying for. Their contents went to auction in 2007.

Many of Maier’s photos ended up with amateur historian John Maloof , who purchased 30,000 negatives for about $400. In the years that followed, he sought out other collectors who had purchased boxes from the same lockers. He didn’t learn the photographer’s identity until 2009, when he found her name scrawled on an envelope among the negatives. A quick Google search revealed that Maier had died just a few days earlier. Uncertain of how to proceed, Maloof started posting her images online.

“I guess my question is, what do I do with this stuff?” he wrote in a Flickr post . “Is this type of work worthy of exhibitions, a book? Or do bodies of work like this come up often? Any direction would be great.”

Maier quickly became a sensation. Everyone wanted to know about the recluse who had so adeptly captured 20th-century America. Her life and work have since been the subject of a best-selling book , a documentary and exhibitions around the world .

Now, the self-taught photographer is headlining her first major American retrospective. “ Vivian Maier: Unseen Work ,” which is currently on view at Fotografiska New York, features some 230 pieces from the 1950s through the 1990s, including black-and-white and color photos, vintage and modern prints, films, and sound recordings. The show is also billed as the first museum exhibition in Maier’s hometown, the city where she nurtured her nascent interest in photography.

Born in New York City in 1926, Maier grew up mostly in France, where she began experimenting with a Kodak Brownie , an affordable early camera designed for amateurs. After returning to New York in 1951, she purchased a Rolleiflex , a high-end camera held at the waist, and began developing her signature style: images of everyday life framed with a stark humor and intuitive understanding of human emotion. She started working as a governess, a role that allowed her to spend hours wandering the city, children in tow, as she snapped away.

She left New York about five years later, when she secured a job as a nanny for three boys—John, Lane and Matthew Gensburg—in the Chicago suburbs. The family was devoted to Maier, though they knew very little about her. The boys remember attending art films and picking wild strawberries as her charges, but they don’t recall her ever mentioning any family or friends. Their parents knew that Maier traveled—they would hire a replacement nanny in her absence—but they didn’t know where she went.

“You really wouldn’t ask her about it at all,” Nancy Gensburg, the boys’ mother, told Chicago magazine in 2010. “I mean, you could, but she was private. Period.”

Despite Maier’s reclusive tendencies, the Gensburgs knew about her photography. It would have been difficult to hide. After all, she lived with the family and had a private bathroom, which she used as a darkroom to develop black-and-white photos herself. The Gensburgs frequently witnessed her taking photos; on rare occasions, she even showed them her prints.

Maier stayed with the Gensburgs until the early 1970s, when the boys were too old for a nanny. She spent the next few decades working in other caretaking roles, though she doesn’t appear to have developed a similar relationship with these families, who viewed her as a competent caregiver with an eccentric personality. Most never saw her prints, though they do remember her moving into their homes with hundreds of boxes of photos in tow.

“I once saw her taking a picture inside a refuse can,” talk show host Phil Donahue, who employed Maier as a nanny for less than a year, told Chicago magazine. “I never remotely thought that what she was doing would have some special artistic value.”

Meanwhile, the Gensburgs kept in touch. As Maier grew older, they took care of her, eventually moving her to a nursing home. They never knew about the storage lockers. When she died at age 83, a short obituary appeared in the Chicago Tribune , describing her as a “second mother” to the three boys, a “free and kindred spirit,” and a “movie critic and photographer extraordinaire.”

Maier’s mysterious backstory is a large part of her present-day appeal. Fans are captivated by the photos, but they’re also intrigued by the reclusive nanny who developed her talents in secret. “Vivian Maier the mystery, the discovery and the work—those three parts together are difficult to separate,” Anne Morin, curator of the new exhibition, tells CNN .

The show is meant to focus on the work rather than the mystery. As Morin says to the Art Newspaper , she hopes to avoid “imposing an overexposed interpretation of her character.” Instead, the exhibition aims to elevate Maier’s name to the level of other famous street photographers—such as Robert Frank and Diane Arbus —and take on the daunting task of examining her large oeuvre.

“In ten years, we could do another completely different show,” Morin tells CNN. “She has more than enough material to bring to the table.”

The subjects of Maier’s street photos ran the gamut, but she often turned her lens toward “people on the margins of society who weren’t usually photographed and of whom images were rarely published,” per a statement from Fotografiska New York. The Gensburg boys recall her taking them all over the city, adamant that they witness what life was like beyond the confines of their affluent suburb.

The exhibition is organized thematically, with sections devoted to Maier’s famous street photos, her experimental abstract compositions and her stylized self-portraits. The self-portraits, which frequently incorporate mirrors and reflections, amplify her enigmatic qualities, usually showing her with a deadpan, focused expression. Her voice can be heard in numerous audio recordings, which play throughout the exhibition. As such, even as the show focuses on the work, Maier the person is still a frequent presence in it.

“The paradox of Vivian Maier is that the lifetime of anonymity that has captured the public imagination persists in the work,” writes art critic Arthur Lubow for the New York Times , adding, “An artist uses a camera as a tool of self-expression. Maier was a supremely gifted chameleon. After immersing myself in her work, other than detecting a certain wryness, I could not get much sense of her sensibility.”

The artist undoubtedly possessed a curiosity about her immediate surroundings, which she photographed with a “lack of self-consciousness,” Sophie Wright, the New York museum’s director, tells CNN. “There’s no audience in mind.” There is no evidence that Maier wondered about her viewers—or that she ever imagined having viewers in the first place. They, however, will never stop wondering about her.

“ Vivian Maier: Unseen Work ” is on view at Fotografiska New York through September 29.

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Ellen Wexler is Smithsonian magazine’s assistant digital editor, humanities.

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Women’s History Month 2024

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 20, 2024 | Original: December 30, 2009

Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987. Women’s History Month 2024 will take place from Friday, March 1 - Sunday, March 31, 2024. 

Why Do We Celebrate Women’s History Month?

Women’s History Month is a dedicated month to reflect on the often-overlooked contributions of women to U.S. history. From Abigail Adams to Susan B. Anthony , Sojourner Truth to Rosa Parks , the timeline of women’s history milestones stretches back to the founding of the United States.

The actual celebration of Women’s History Month grew out of a weeklong celebration of women’s contributions to culture, history and society organized by the school district of Sonoma, California , in 1978. Presentations were given at dozens of schools, hundreds of students participated in a “Real Woman” essay contest and a parade was held in downtown Santa Rosa.

A few years later, the idea caught on within communities, school districts and organizations across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week. The U.S. Congress followed suit the next year, passing a resolution establishing a national celebration. Six years later, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day , a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women, took place for the first time on March 8, 1911. Many countries around the world celebrate the holiday with demonstrations, educational initiatives and customs such as presenting women with gifts and flowers. 

The United Nations has sponsored International Women’s Day since 1975. When adopting its resolution on the observance of International Women’s Day, the United Nations General Assembly cited the following reasons: “To recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.”

Women's History Month Theme 2024

The  National Women's History Alliance designates a yearly theme for Women's History Month. The 2024 theme celebrates  “ Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” This theme recognizes women who understand the need to eliminate bias and discrimination from individuals' lives and institutions.

Inspiring Quotes for Women's History Month

“Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), political figure, diplomat, activist, First Lady.

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity," Amelia Earhart (1897-1937?), aviation pioneer.

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.” – Rosa Parks (1913-2005), civil rights activist.

"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." - Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005), U.S. Congresswoman.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou (1928-2014), memoirist, poet, civil rights activist.

“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.” – Madeleine Albright (1937-2022), U.S. Secretary of State.

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King (1943 - ), tennis champion.

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." - Alice Walker (1944 - ), novelist, short story writer, poet, social activist.

“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” ―  Malala Yousafzai (1997- ), Pakistani female education activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

HISTORY Vault: Women's History

Explore the stories of prominent women through history.

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Opinion Guest Essay

Hillary Clinton: How Kamala Harris Can Win and Make History

Credit... Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Supported by

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

Mrs. Clinton was the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.

• July 23, 2024

History has its eye on us. President Biden’s decision to end his campaign was as pure an act of patriotism as I have seen in my lifetime. It should also be a call to action to the rest of us to continue his fight for the soul of our nation. The next 15 weeks will be like nothing this country has ever experienced politically, but have no doubt: This is a race Democrats can and must win.

Mr. Biden has done a hard and rare thing. Serving as president was a lifelong dream. And when he finally got there, he was exceptionally good at it. To give that up, to accept that finishing the job meant passing the baton, took real moral clarity. The country mattered more. As one who shared that dream and has had to make peace with letting it go, I know this wasn’t easy. But it was the right thing to do.

Elections are about the future. That’s why I am excited about Vice President Kamala Harris. She represents a fresh start for American politics. She can offer a hopeful, unifying vision. She is talented, experienced and ready to be president. And I know she can defeat Donald Trump.

There is now an even sharper, clearer choice in this election. On one side is a convicted criminal who cares only about himself and is trying to turn back the clock on our rights and our country. On the other is a savvy former prosecutor and successful vice president who embodies our faith that America’s best days are still ahead. It’s old grievances versus new solutions.

Ms. Harris’s record and character will be distorted and disparaged by a flood of disinformation and the kind of ugly prejudice we’re already hearing from MAGA mouthpieces. She and the campaign will have to cut through the noise, and all of us as voters must be thoughtful about what we read, believe and share.

I know a thing or two about how hard it can be for strong women candidates to fight through the sexism and double standards of American politics. I’ve been called a witch, a “nasty woman” and much worse. I was even burned in effigy. As a candidate, I sometimes shied away from talking about making history. I wasn’t sure voters were ready for that. And I wasn’t running to break a barrier; I was running because I thought I was the most qualified to do the job. While it still pains me that I couldn’t break that highest, hardest glass ceiling, I’m proud that my two presidential campaigns made it seem normal to have a woman at the top of the ticket.

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Black voters feel excitement, hope and a lot of worry as Harris takes center stage in campaign

Black voters expressed a mix of hope and worry over Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race and the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic nominee. (AP Video: Sharon Johnson)

Anaya Bridges, a full-time student at Georgia State University, poses at the university’s campus in Atlanta, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Tariq Patterson, a full-time nursing student at Georgia State University, poses at the university’s campus in Atlanta, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Tina Darrisaw, left, and Miles Davis, both from Cleveland, pose outside the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

L.J. Boyd, 62, of Hastings, Fla., speaks to the Associated Press, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

L.J. Boyd, 62, of Hastings, Fla., gestures during an interview with the Associated Press, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A student walks past a sign on Monday, July 22, 2024, at Georgia State University in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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ATLANTA (AP) — Black voters, who helped power Joe Biden to the White House, expressed a mix of hope and worry Monday over his exit from the presidential race and the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic nominee.

A key Democratic constituency, Black voters were among Biden’s most steadfast supporters , even as calls for him to quit grew. But as much pride as many Black Americans feel about the possibility of Harris, who is of Black and Indian descent , becoming president, the upending of the race has some voters feeling scared.

“I felt like we were doomed,” said Brianna Smith, a 24-year-old school counselor from Decatur, Georgia, recounting her reaction to Biden’s announcement . “I don’t see America actually accepting the fact that a Black woman is running for president.”

The apprehension of some Black voters was reminiscent of 2008, when Barack Obama sought the presidency alongside Biden, the vice presidential candidate. Millions of Black people were proud of Obama’s candidacy even as they feared he wouldn’t be accepted by Americans overall.

Cyria Adams, a 37-year-old hairstylist from Smyrna, Georgia, called Biden’s decision “heartbreaking.” As speculation spread last week that the president might withdraw, she prayed it was just a rumor.

“I’m nervous. I’m really nervous,” Adams said.

Biden’s support of Harris and the immediate coalescing of other party leaders around her makes her the prohibitive favorite to replace him at the top of the presidential ticket. But in interviews in Atlanta, where voters helped flip Georgia for Democrats four years ago, some Black voters were nervous.

“People really don’t like women, especially Black women,” said Mary Jameson, 46. “If a white woman can’t win, how can a Black woman win?”

Carrington Jackson, a 23-year-old chiropractic student from Marietta, Georgia, said she immediately felt fearful when Biden dropped out. Though she believes Harris is a great candidate, she worries about her facing not only the popularity of the GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, but the prejudices of the American public.

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“With me being a Black woman, I understand that she’s at the intersection of sexism and racism,” Jackson said. “I think now that’s going to be a whole other battle, as well as competing against Donald Trump’s supporters.”

An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll fielded prior to Biden’s announcement Sunday found about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do well as president . More broadly, among all adults, the poll showed skepticism of Harris, with only 3 in 10 Americans saying she would do well as president.

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But Black people were more likely to see Harris in a positive light.

In a show of enthusiasm about the vice president, more than 40,000 Black women participated in a Zoom meeting Sunday organized by a group called #WinWithBlackWomen. The call was held just hours after Biden’s announcement and participants raised more than $1.5 million for the Harris campaign.

Many Democrats followed Biden’s lead in expressing their support for Harris. The Congressional Black Caucus said it “fully backs” the vice president.

And some Black voters, dismayed by what they saw as Biden’s dwindling chance of winning in November, said they would support whoever could best compete with Trump.

“If they can express the policy of the Democratic Party better than Biden, then I will gladly take that person,” said Pierre Varlet, 30, an anti-money laundering specialist in Atlanta.

The AP-NORC polling shows Black people generally view Trump negatively . But while about 7 in 10 Black adults have an unfavorable view of Trump, his numbers have improved notably since early 2021.

Trump’s campaign has sought to win over more Black voters and members of other minorities.

Anaya Bridges, a 22-year-old student at Georgia State University, said she believed “some people have been swayed” by Republican outreach to communities of color, and she is concerned about voter turnout.

“The timing is terrible,” she said of Biden’s announcement.

Jon Diggs, a 40-year-old Atlanta therapist who has generally voted Democratic in past elections, said he was shocked by Biden’s decision. Both parties, Diggs said, have work to do.

“I don’t think that either party has done a good job for the middle class and particularly the middle-class African American person,” he said.

Johnny Bester, a 37-year-old from Atlanta who was riding a scooter alongside Diggs in Piedmont Park, said he was “not loyal to any brand” of politics. He said Biden should have dropped out long ago and that he wasn’t a fan of the president’s endorsement of Harris.

“A lot of us forgot that she was even in the office, because she hasn’t been too vocal. She hasn’t been too visible,” Bester said.