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Sources: Claude Goldin, Harvard University; June O’Neill and Solomon Polachek, Baruch College and SUNY Binghamton; Francine Blau and Marianne Faber, University of Illinois; Reprinted with the

permission of The New York Times. Revised by author with data from Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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1890Immigrants girls follow farm girls into the factories as American industry grows. Except for black women, few married women work for pay.

The Roaring 20s With the rise of the modern corporation, millions of white-collar jobs open up for young women, many now with high school diplomas.

The Great DepressionWorking women gain on working men as heavy industry collapses but services hold up. The exception: Black women who lose jobs as domestics.

1963• “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan sparks a revolution in women’s expectations.• Federal act requiring equal pay for equal work is passed.• The baby boom ends.

World War IIMillions of girls and middle-aged women are drawn into factories as men go off to fight. The war economy pushes up pay of less skilled workers. But when boys come home, Rosie the Riveter and millions of other women are sent home too.

The 1950s through 1980For the first time, large numbers of mothers of school-aged children join the workforce and the average education and job experience of working women declines relative to that of working men.

1955The baby boom is in full swing. The age of first marriage drops and the average woman has 3.6 children.

Women’s progress

(Continued on next slide)

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1960sMothers of preschool children start to work in large numbers, often at part-time sales and clerical jobs in the suburbs.

1964• Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against women.• National Organization for Women is founded.

1980s• More women stay single permanently, delay marriage, or get divorced.• Demand zooms for highly educated, highly skilled workers like executives, lawyers, engineers, and doctors.

1988• The typical 40-year-old working woman now has 73 percent of the experience (in years) of the average 40-year-old man, up from 65 percent in 1968..• Women pour into professional schools, earning more than a third of such degrees.

1981For the first time, more than 50 percent of women are in the paid labor force.

Early 1980sRecession, the strong dollar, and restructuring slam blue-collar manufacturing jobs held mostly by men. Pink-collar service jobs from banking to beauty parlors boom. For the first time, women’s underemployment rates are lower than men’s.

197173 percent of young white women think they’ll be in the labor force at age 35, more than twice as many as in 1968.

1975A.T.&T. consent decree on pay discrimination in one of a number of court decisions that give teeth to civil rights laws.

1984Proportion of women in labor force with college degrees equals that of men for the first time since the 1940s; women increasingly choose same majors as men.

1989Women hold 40 percent of the entry-level and middle-management jobs, double their share in 1972.

1991Proportion of women who work full-time year-round at an all time high..

Women’s progress (Continued from previous slide)

Sources: Claude Goldin, Harvard University; June O’Neill and Solomon Polachek, Baruch College and SUNY Binghamton; Francine Blau and Marianne Faber, University of Illinois; Reprinted with the

permission of The New York Times. Revised by author with data from Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Jan. 22.1973 In Roe v. Wade, the Court overturned a Texas law that madeabortion a crime except to save apregnant woman's life; the Court ruledthat the constitutional right to privacyencompassed a woman's decision toterminate pregnancy.

Jan. 22, 1973 In Rose v. Bolton, the Court struck down restrictions on places thatcould be used to perform abortions. Thedecision gave rise to the abortion clinic.

July 1, 1976 In Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, the Court struck down aMissouri law requiring a married woman tohave her husband's consent for anabortion; the Court also said parents ofminor, unwed girls cannot be given anabsolute veto over abortions.

June 20, 1977 In Maher v. Roe, the Court held that a state is notconstitutionally required to pay forabortions for poor women.

Jan. 29, 1979 In Colautti v. Franklin, the Court ruled unconstitutional a Pennsylvanialaw that required a doctor performing anabortion to choose the abortion methodmost likely to save the life of the fetus thatmight be old enough to survive outside thewomb.

July 2, 1979 In Bellotti v. Baird, the Court ruled that a state may not requireteen -agers to have their parents' consentfor an abortion unless the law alsoprovides, as an alternate procedure, thatteen -agers can obtain permission from ajudge.

June 30, 1980 In Harris v. McRae the Court upheld the Hyde Amendment,

the Federal law banning the useof Federal Medicaid money forabortions for poor women.

March 23, 1981 In H. L. v. Matheson, the Court ruled that a state may require adoctor to inform a teenaged girl's parentsbefore performing an abortion or facecriminal penalties, at least when the girl isstill living at home and dependent on herparents.

June 15, 1983 In three decisions, led by City of Akron v. Akron Center forReproductive Health, the Court struckdown a law requiring women seekingabortions to wait at least 24 hours afterreceiving counseling that included thestatement that "the unborn child is ahuman life from the moment ofconception."

June 11, 1986 In Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians andGynecologists, the Court struck downthe 1982 version of Pennsylvania's

Abortion Control Act, requiring thatwomen be given specific "informedconsent" information intended todiscourage abortions.

July 3, 1989 In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, the Court upheld aMissouri law that barred the use of publichospitals or clinics for abortions, with ananalysis that for the first time indicatedthat a majority of the Court no longerconsidered abortion to be a "fundamental"constitutional right.

June 25, 1990 In Hodgson v. Minnesota and Ohio v. Akron Center for ReproductiveHealth, the Court again addressed thequestion of parental notification. In theMinnesota case the Justices said a statemay require a teen-age girl to notify bothparents before obtaining an abortion, aslong as the law provides the alternative of ajudicial hearing. In the Ohio case, the Courtupheld the state's law requiring notificationof one parent while also allowing thejudicial alternative.

Jan. 29, 1992 In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirmed whatis called the "essence" of the constitutionalright to abortion while at the same timepermitting some new state restrictions.

Jan. 13, 1993 In Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, the Courtruled that a Reconstruction -era civilrights law enacted to protect blacksfrom the Ku Klux Klan did not giveFederal judges jurisdiction to baranti -abortion protesters fromblockading abortion clinics.

The Supreme Court and the evolution of abortion law