Schenken Suzanne O’Dea. From Suffrage to the Senate: An Encyclopedia of American Women in Politics (2 Volumes)

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Voters; National Council of Negro Women; National Women’s Conference;

Natividad, Irene; Pay Equity; YWCA of the USA

References Slavin, ed., U.S. Women’s Interest Groups (1995).

County of Washington, Oregon v. Gunther (1981)

In County of Washington, Oregon v. Gunther, women guards in the female sec-

tion of the county jail filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

for back pay, arguing that they had been paid lower wages than male guards

supervising male prisoners and that part of the difference was attributable to

intentional sex discrimination. Despite the hopes of comparable worth sup-

porters, the claim was not based on comparable worth, a fact the Supreme

Court specifically noted. Instead, the question was whether Title VII limited

sex-based wage discrimination cases to those that could also be covered by

the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The Equal Pay Act only addressed equal pay for

equal work, and the female guards acknowledged that their work was not

equal to that performed by the male guards supervising male prisoners.

The county had done an evaluation of the worth of the jobs, estab-

lishing their comparable worth, and concluded that women guards work-

ing in the female section of the county jail should be paid at a rate of 95

percent of the rate paid to male correctional officers working in the male

section. However, the county set the women’s pay rates at only 70 percent.

The Court explained that it was not required to assess the value of the

male and female guard jobs and that it did not have to quantify the effect

of sex discrimination on wage rates. The Court decided that the female

guards could claim they had been undercompensated even though they

did not perform work equal to that done by male guards.

See also Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII; Employment Discrimination; Equal

Pay Act of 1963; Pay Equity

References County of Washington, Oregon v. Gunther, 452 U.S. 161 (1981).

Coverture

Articulated by English jurist Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries

on the Laws of England (1765–1769), coverture established women’s civil

status in common law and became the basis for married women’s legal

status in the United States. Coverture defined a married woman’s legal sta-

tus as suspended and incorporated into her husband’s. In marriage, the

man and woman became one, and the law recognized only the husband’s

existence, a civil death that left married women economically and legally

dependent upon their husbands.

The consequences of coverture were wide-ranging. A husband could

not give his wife anything or make a contract with her because he would

be giving it to himself. A wife, however, could represent her husband as an

Coverture 175

attorney since that does not imply separation from him. A wife could not

sue or be sued, but a husband could be the defendant or sue in his wife’s

place. A wife could not testify against her husband, was not liable for her

own actions, and in some cases was excused from having committed

crimes if it could be shown that she acted under her husband’s direction.

In addition, common law permitted a husband to use physical force to

discipline his wife, permitting him to whip her or use his fists as well as re-

strict her to his home, and married women could not establish their own

domiciles. Every married woman’s surname was by law that of her hus-

band; a married woman had no right to adopt a different name; and if a

man changed his name, his wife’s name automatically changed.

Coverture denied women virtually all property rights. The personal

property, money, and goods that a woman took into marriage or inherited

after it belonged entirely to her husband, to do with as he wished. A wife

did not own her clothing, and if she left her husband, she could be

charged with theft for the clothes she wore. Any earnings due her be-

longed to her husband because a woman’s services belonged to her hus-

band. In addition, because a wife had no separate legal standing, only the

husband could sue for wages due her. At his death, she was entitled to one-

third of her husband’s real estate and one-third of her personal property,

unless he bequeathed his property otherwise. He could will items to her

because at his death, coverture ended.

Coverture assigned specific responsibilities to husbands and wives

that were reciprocal in nature but not equal. The husband was sole legal

guardian of the children, was the preferred legal custodian of children in

the event of divorce, and could appoint a guardian other than the mother

should he die. A husband assumed any debts his wife had at the time of

marriage and those that she acquired while married. In addition, a hus-

band was bound to provide his wife with the necessities of life, even after

legal separation or divorce. Wives had a legal obligation to perform do-

mestic chores but had no right to an allowance, wages, or any income.

The civil death created by coverture provided the basis for excluding

women from serving on juries, holding public office, and engaging in cer-

tain occupations.

Unmarried adult women, known as femme sole, did not have the

same constraints on their legal and economic activities. Although they did

not have political rights until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in

1920, unmarried adult women could own and inherit property, own their

earnings, enter into contracts, and sue and be sued.

Eliminating these and other forms of legal discrimination based on

sex began with the passage of married women’s property acts in the 1840s

and continued with some states giving women the ownership of their

176 Coverture

earnings and other limited property rights. In 1869, Wyoming Territory

granted women the right to vote and to hold public office, and women

continued the long process of gaining suffrage rights, culminating in the

passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and the Voting Rights Act

of 1965, among other measures. Efforts to obtain the full rights of citi-

zenship, that is, to be an autonomous citizen, to serve on juries, to deter-

mine one’s name, and to eliminate the barriers of discrimination on the

basis of gender, continued throughout the twentieth century.

See also Anthony, Susan Brownell; Bradwell v. Illinois; Civil Rights Act of

1964, Title VII; Domestic Violence; Employment Discrimination; Equal Pay

Act of 1963; Married Women’s Property Acts; Nineteenth Amendment; Sex

Discrimination; Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Suffrage

References Freeman, “The Legal Basis of the Sexual Caste System” (1971);

Matthews, Women’ Struggle for Equality (1997)

Craig v. Boren (1976)

In Craig v. Boren, the U.S. Supreme Court found gender-based discrimi-

nation in an Oklahoma law unconstitutional under the Fourteenth

Amendment. Women eighteen and over were permitted to purchase 3.2

percent beer in Oklahoma, but men had to be twenty-one years old to

legally purchase it. Oklahoma cited traffic safety as the reason for the dif-

ferences, pointing out that in a given period more than 400 men were ar-

rested for driving under the influence of alcohol, but only twenty-four

women had been arrested in the same period. In the decision, the Court

created an intermediary scrutiny standard, explaining that “classifications

by gender must serve important governmental objectives and be substan-

tially related to these objectives.”

See also Fourteenth Amendment

References Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976).

Crisp, Mary Dent (b. 1923)

Cochairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 1977 to

1980, Crisp supported reproductive rights and the Equal Rights Amend-

ment (ERA), views that contrasted with those of the party’s conservative

leaders. Crisp entered politics as a member of the Arizona state central

committee in 1962, worked on Republican presidential candidate Barry

Goldwater’s 1964 campaign, and was elected Republican national commit-

teewoman for Arizona in 1972 and in 1976. Elected RNC secretary after the

1976 Republican National Convention, she was elected cochairperson in

January 1977. During her term as party cochair, she developed a women’s

program that included a series of bipartisan seminars and conferences to

Crisp, Mary Dent 177

help women empower themselves. Differences with conservative party

members over the ERA and abortion, however, strained their relation-

ships. She believed that her office in the party’s headquarters was bugged,

an allegation firmly denied by other party leaders. During the party’s 1980

platform hearings, Crisp testified against the platform for withdrawing its

support of the ERA and for supporting a constitutional amendment ban-

ning abortions and resigned as cochair at the request of conservatives. She

chaired independent presidential candidate John Anderson’s 1980 cam-

paign. Crisp chaired the National Republican Coalition for Choice from

1989 to 1994.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Crisp earned her bachelor’s degree

from Oberlin College in 1946 and her master’s degree from Arizona State

University in 1975.

References Crisp, “My Journey to Feminism” (1998); Melich, The Republican

War against Women: An Insider’s Report from Behind the Lines (1996); New York

Times, 22 June 1980.

Croly, Jane Cunningham (1829–1901)

Journalist Jane Croly’s work in the women’s clubs movement led to the

creation of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. After founding

Sorosis in 1868, Croly saw the need for a national organization of similar

groups and organized a convention to unite them, resulting in the cre-

ation of the federation in 1890. She organized the New York State Feder-

ation in 1894.

Born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England, Jane Croly

moved to the United States with her parents in 1841. Croly began her ca-

reer in journalism in 1855 at the New York Tribune and subsequently

wrote for several other newspapers using the pseudonym Jennie June.

Croly wrote The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America

(1898).

See also General Federation of Women’s Clubs

References James, ed., Notable American Women 1607–1950 (1971); Whitman,

ed., American Reformers (1985).

Cubin, Barbara Lynn (b. 1946)

Republican Barbara Cubin of Wyoming entered the U.S. House of Repre-

sentatives on 3 January 1995. Cubin held the leadership position of House

Deputy Majority Whip in the 104th through 106th Congresses

(1995–2001). Cubin’s congressional priorities include public lands, en-

ergy, and states’ rights. A ranch owner, Cubin has objected to the intro-

duction of Canadian gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park, arguing

178 Croly, Jane Cunningham

that the wolves injure and kill livestock. She opposes increases in public

land grazing fees and has fought to give ranchers more power in deter-

mining the management of federal rangeland. While promoting

Wyoming’s resource-based industries, including mining, Cubin has also

advocated permitting states to enforce environmental policies and ending

interference by the federal government. Balancing the federal budget, pro-

viding families with a tax credit of $500 per child, and eliminating the

capital gains tax and death taxes are other focuses of her work. Cubin

served as house deputy majority whip in the 104th, 105th, and 106th Con-

gresses (1995–1997, 1997–1999, and 1999–2001).

Born in Cody, Wyoming, Cubin received her bachelor of science de-

gree in chemistry from Creighton University in 1969 and attended Casper

College in 1993. She served in the Wyoming House of Representatives

from 1987 to 1993 and the Wyoming Senate from 1993 to 1995. While in

the legislature, Cubin was the prime sponsor of a state constitutional

amendment permitting judges to impose life sentences without the possi-

bility of parole, which voters ratified. She was vice chair of the energy

committee of the National Council of State Legislatures and chaired the

research section of the Energy Council, an international organization.

See also Congress, Women in

References Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1998 (1997).

Cubin, Barbara Lynn 179

Representative

Barbara Cubin (far

right) (R-WY) looked

on as House Speaker

Newt Gingrich signed

the Republican

budget resolution,

1995 (AP Photo/

Dennis Cook)

Danner, Patsy Ann (b. 1934)

Democrat Pat Danner of Missouri entered the U.S. House of Representa-

tives on 3 January 1993. Danner’s congressional priorities included creat-

ing jobs, cutting government waste, and promoting economic develop-

ment. She has opposed gun control measures, efforts to lift the ban on

homosexuals in the military, and federal funding for abortions, but she

did support safe access to abortion facilities. Danner was coauthor of a bill

enacted in 1996 that protects donors and distributors of food for the

needy from legal liability for illnesses or other problems resulting from the

donations.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Pat Danner received her bachelor’s de-

gree from Northeast Missouri State University in 1972. From 1973 to

1976, she was district assistant to a congressman and from 1977 to 1981

was federal cochair of the Ozark Regional Planning Commission. She is

the only woman who has chaired a regional commission. Danner served

in the Missouri state Senate from 1983 to 1993.

See also Congress, Women in; Reproductive Rights; State Legislatures, Women in

References Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1996 (1995), Politics in

America 1998 (1997).

Daughters of Bilitis

Founded in 1955 by four lesbian couples, Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) seeks

to educate the public about homosexuals and conducts research to change

public perceptions about lesbians and eliminate discrimination against

181

them. The group’s name came from a poem by Pierre Louys,“Song of Bili-

tis,” about a woman believed to have lived on the island of Lesbos during

the time of Sappho.

Originating in San Francisco, DOB developed into the first national

organization of lesbians. DOB focused on two areas: providing a safe place

for lesbians to gather, despite the ongoing threat of police raids, and in-

forming both homosexuals and the general public that gays and lesbians

were good citizens. In 1956, DOB began publishing The Ladder, a maga-

zine that reported court cases relevant to homosexuals’ civil liberties, em-

ployment discrimination, and police harassment. In the 1960s, The Lad-

der expanded to include articles by noted feminists, including Kate Millett

and May Sarton. In 1970, DOB disbanded as a national organization, but

local groups continued to meet.

See also Lesbian Rights; Lyon, Phyllis; Martin, Del

References Slavin, U.S. Women’s Interest Groups (1995); www.gis.net/~dismith/

dob1.html

Daughters of Liberty

Emerging out of the patriotic enthusiasm of the 1760s and 1770s, Daugh-

ters of Liberty supported the American revolutionary cause by joining

boycotts against British goods. With no formal organization, especially

when compared to the Sons of Liberty, groups of American colonial

women demonstrated their support for the boycott by spinning wool and

flax. To overcome the tedium of the task, they often gathered in large spin-

ning bees and frequently attracted the support and recognition of local

newspapers. In addition, some women formed anti-tea leagues. The

amount of homespun produced by these groups is unknown, and its di-

rect impact on the economy is equally uncertain, but the meetings made

a political statement by focusing attention on the need for frugality and

industry in colonial households and by providing a way for American

women to contribute to the struggle against Britain.

References Norton, Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of

American Women, 1750–1800 (1980).

Davis, Angela Yvonne (b. 1944)

Radical Angela Davis began participating in civil rights demonstrations as

a child in the 1950s and continues to support controversial causes. She

gained national attention in 1970, when she was accused of supplying

weapons for a raid on the San Rafael, California, courthouse and was

charged with murder, conspiracy, and kidnapping. Davis had not partici-

pated in the raid, although she owned the guns used in it. Placed on the

182 Daughters of Liberty

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) most wanted list, she went into

hiding, was found in New York, and was jailed in California without bail.

While she was in jail for sixteen months, the Free Angela campaign grew

into an international cause and eventually evolved into the National Al-

liance Against Racist and Political Oppression, for which Davis has

worked since 1972, the year she was acquitted of all the charges.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis earned her bachelor’s degree

from Brandeis University in 1965, studied at Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

University in Frankfurt, Germany, from 1965 to 1967, and earned her

master’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, San

Diego, in 1968. She joined the Communist Party the next year. A member

of the faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1969 to

1970, she was dismissed for her membership in the Communist Party and

for her public speeches. She had said it was “necessary to unveil the pre-

dominant, oppressive ideas and acts of this country” and “begin to de-

velop not only criticism but positive solutions and to carry out these paths

in the universities.” Davis ran for vice president of the United States in

1980 and 1984 on the Communist Party ticket. Since 1975, Davis has

taught at several colleges and universities, including Claremont College,

Stanford University, San Francisco State University, Moscow University,

Havana University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Among her published books are If They Come in the Morning (1971);

Women, Race, and Class (1983); Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1988);

Davis, Angela Yvonne 183

Civil rights activist

Angela Davis

protested the death

penalty with a crowd

of 5,000 at a rally