The Role of Women in Shaping OurState

F rom prehistoric times through the French and Spanish colonial eras, from the territorial period through statehood, secession, Reconstruction, and modernization, women have played major and defining roles in the development and history of Arkansas.

Women of every race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and legal status have been instrumental in shaping the culture and social structure of Arkansas, even as they have been forced to struggle for equal rights, political and legal equality, economic and social independence, even the most basic human right of freedom.

The first women in Arkansas were likely the descendants of Asians who crossed the land bridge to North America between 18,000 and 10,000 BC. During the Paleoindian, Woodland, Archaic, and Mississippian periods, women farmed, hunted, and SHAPING

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gathered alongside men.

They created vessels to hold food, took part in trade and activities, and cared for their families and tribal members.

Many southeastern tribes were matrilineal societies, in which lineage was raced through the mother’s side of the family, though this did not necessarily translate into tribal leadership roles for women. The maternal side of the family was very important, as they chose marriage partners for and gave divorces to family members.

Arkansas women played major roles in the

organized, marched, and agitated on both sides of the effort to end legal segregation, mostly notably during Little Rock’s Central High Crisis of 1957.

Great social upheavals swept across Arkansas and the nation in the 1960s and 1970s, bringing women and minorities to the forefront of society, government, and business. Many strong Arkansas women banded together to fight political candidates who supported issues deemed detrimental to women’s rights.

In 1970, the first female-run law firm in Arkansas was founded. In 1971, Gov. Dale Bumpers formed the Governor’s Commission SHAPING

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on the State of Women, and the first female cadets entered the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at Arkansas State University.

In 1975, Elsijane T. Roy became the first female justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

By the end of the 20th century, Arkansas women were earning at the national average for white women around 73% of what white men earned. Also, Arkansas factories increasingly became less desirable places to work for middle- class women, and many turned to a profession traditionally friendly to females: Health care.

Throughout the 20th century, Arkansas women were influential

save the oldest developed block of buildings in Little Rock, a section that would eventually become the Historic Arkansas Museum.