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Women Play Key Role Shaping U.S. History, Society, Scholar Says

Susan Ware, noted expert on 20th century American women. (Photo courtesy Susan Ware)

By Mark Betka
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- American women have made and continue to make important contributions to society, a U.S. historian says, but more can be done for women worldwide to improve parity with men on such issues as salaries and access to social benefits.

Historian Susan Ware discussed women’s issue in a March 8 State Department webchat marking International Women’s Day.

“Areas of special importance are access to education, health care, employment, and full political engagement,” historian Susan Ware said in a March 8 State Department webchat marking International Women’s Day. “This forward momentum will need the input of both men and women,” Ware added.

Ware, a historian and former professor of history at New York University, is an expert on 20th century American women. She was a consultant to the Department of State's online publication Women of Influence and served as editor of the fifth volume of Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. Ware is also the author of several books on women and the New Deal, the popular name for the U.S. government response of 1933-1938 to the Great Depression.

Asked about which American women she believed most responsible for securing women’s voting rights in the United States, Ware said, “It’s hard to pick one woman in a struggle that lasted for 72 years! …[however, some of] the key players were definitely Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.”   She went on to note that women such as Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul were instrumental in the latter stages of the process.

On the subject of women’s political representation in the United States and in other countries, notably Iraq, Ware cited the importance of having women not only in the halls of government but also influencing political decisions in their countries though voluntary organizations, religious groups and other nongovernmental bodies.

Ware reflected on the satisfaction she derives from her career as a women’s historian saying that she has “always believed that a picture of American history that excluded the role of women was an incomplete one, and I have dedicated my scholarship to trying to fill that gap.”

A transcript of Ware’s webchat is available on the State Department’s Webchat Station.

For information on U.S. observances of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, see Women in the United States.

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