PoliticsWomen

16 Historical Polls Show Just How Far Women Have Come

Attitudes about gender have changed a lot in the past 80 years.
Ariel Edwards-Levy
By 

Senior Reporter and Polling Editor, HuffPost

About 80 years ago, just one-third of Americans said they would vote for a well-qualified female presidential candidate. About 70 years ago, fewer than half of Americans approved of seeing more women as governors, senators, doctors or lawyers. And about 40 years ago, the public was split over whether men were “better suited emotionally” for politics compared to women.

Today, 92 percent of Americans say they’d support a female nominee from their party, and more than 80 percent that it’s important for women to be represented in politics.

Few would say gender discrimination is no longer a problem ― three-quarters of the public believes women still face at least some discrimination, and nearly half that women don’t have equal job opportunities in the country.

But a look back at past surveys shows just how much life has changed for American women in the last few decades.

1937: 64% of Americans wouldn't vote for a qualified woman for president
Roper Center
1939: 37% of Americans say it is all right for any woman who wants to work to have a job
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1947: 41% of Americans disapprove of "having more women serve as governors, senators, doctors, lawyer and in other professions"
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1956: 38% of Americans object to women drinking in public places
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1969: 46% of Americans say "working career women with young children" do more to harm than help American life
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1970: 51% of men agree that "leaders of women's organizations are trying to turn women into men, and that won't work"
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1970: 44% of working women say they've had a man take credit for their work (Just 26% of men think this has happened to women they work with)
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1973: 75% of Americans prefer "Miss and Mrs." over "Ms."
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1975: 48% of Americans agree that men are "better suited emotionally for politics" than are women
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1982: 49% of Americans say it's worse for women to swear in public than it was for men to do so
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1983: 55% of Americans say only men should be able to work in construction
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1985: 77% of women feel "a woman has to be much better at what she does than a man is" to get ahead in the world
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1987: 49% of Americans say the trend toward equal rights for women has decreased "the amount of romance between men and women"
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1989: 59% of women say "there is still a need for a strong women's movement"
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1994: 77% of women say sexual discrimination, while "more subtle," remains a problem
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2000: 44% of men say the country has "gone too far" in the number of mothers working outside of the home
Roper Center
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