Women's Rights Movement

The Historic Progress of Women – Why Not in Jazz? Nearly one-hundred and seventy years have passed since the first woman’s rights conference occurred in Seneca Falls, New York. Since that initial meeting in 1848, the women’s rights movement has had many feats of accomplishment. Women gaining political power, having more job opportunities, and gaining the right to vote are just a few of the successes that the women’s rights movement has attained (Office of the Historian, 2007). The music industry is one part of American culture where men have dominated the field over the past 100 years. There is a strikingly large number of men when compared to women in the music industry, whether it be music production, songwriting, or the performers themselves …show more content…
While there were women who sang the blues at the turn of the century, Ella Fitzgerald is widely accredited with being the first prominent woman jazz singer (Bracks, 2012). She, along with Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, and others, started the transition from the completely male dominated profession to what we have today. However, it was never easy for these women as they nearly always came from difficult backgrounds and faced hardships throughout their lives, even when they were significant jazz musicians (Clarke, 2002; Nicholson, …show more content…
One of these events occurred in the early 1940’s when America entered into World War II. Upon America’s entrance into the war, the draft was enacted which led to millions of men both leaving their daily jobs, and leaving the country, to enter into combat in Europe and the Pacific. This shortage of men in America led to a vast increase in employment opportunities for women throughout the country. From 1940 to 1945 the percentage of females in the United States workforce jumped from 27% to just under 37% (History, 2010). This allowed for some women to also enter into the genre of