Women’s Liberation, Free Speech, Environmentalism, and the New Left

Origins of Women’s Liberation American History Cold War, Consumerism, and the other side of “The Good Life” Gendered discrimination within social movements Middle class white kids rebel Vietnam War and opposition Government suppression of free-speech

The Women’s Movement 19 th Amendment Progressive Reformism After Rosie the Riveter “Leave it to Beaver” Betty Freidan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963

“Women’s Liberation” Patriarchy Biology = destiny Marriage & oppression Domestic Violence Equal Pay & Education College admissions The Glass Ceiling Reproductive Rights and control over one’s body

Landmark Policies 1961: Kennedy: federal contractors must take "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964 Prohibited discrimination by large employers, whether or not they have government contracts. (Title VII) 1965: Johnson required government contractors to take affirmative action to expand job opportunities for minorities. 1967: Johnson included affirmative action for women. 1969: Nixon required Affirmative Action programs in Federal employment 1978: The U.S. Supreme Court in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, (1978) upheld the use of race as one factor in choosing qualified applicants for admission. Also ruled unlawful the University Medical School's practice of reserving seats in each entering class minority students

NOW 1966: National Organization of Women established due to the failure of the EEOC to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. 28 women $5 Task Forces: Family Life, Education, Employment, Media, Religion, Poverty, Legal and Political Rights

Landmarks 1960: FDA approved Contraceptive pill 1964: 33 states, Commissions on the Status of Women 1967: NOW adopted passage of the Equal Rights Amendment 1968: Women's Equity Action League (WEAL) formed by anti-abortion, pro-women’s rights groups 1972: Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman to run for the U.S. presidency in the primary 1972: The ERA passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 84-8 and was sent to the states for ratification 1973: Roe v. Wade legalized abortion

Miscellaneous Catholics used contraception as frequently as Jews and Protestants, according to a Texas survey (06/21/60) Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was sworn in as Prime Minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka (1960) 1968: Women's liberation groups, joined by NOW, targeted the Miss America Beauty Contest in Atlantic City, leading to the “bra burning” myth 1974: AFL-CIO and YWCA reverse their positions and support the ERA

Debates & Divisions Race & Class Equal rights & labor unionism Individual rights vs. group rights “Race or gender first?” Who and what is (a) feminist?

Chicana Movement Liga Femenil Mexicanista, 1911 Catholicism, culture, tradition, family “Triple oppression” “Loyalists or feminists” Las Malinches 1971 Houston, First National Chicana Conference

…Continued Anna Nieto-Gomez, Regeneracion (1971) Evangelina Enriquez: Chicana Women’s Political Caucus, 1973 Francisca Flores: “Barrio Activist” in LA Ramona Morin: California League of Mexican American Women Universities & scholarship, art, politics, community, health care

Native Women Influence of women’s liberation, black power, third world movements AIM patriarchy Indigenous rights: Land Government Sterilization Treaties Environmentalism

Women Leaders Women of All Red Nations Lanada Means Boyer Ada Deer Wilma Mankiller Leslie Marmon Silko Elizabeth Cook-Lynn

Gay Liberation Stonewall, 1970 (NY) San Francisco Protests against police brutality, gay bashing, violence, and discrimination Human Rights Personal Privacy Murder of Harvey Milk

Gay Liberation, 1970

Harvey Milk Gay Pride

The New Left Not the 1930’s “Popular Front” of unions, socialists, College educated White males Urban/suburban Critique of corporate capitalism, technology, conformity, and empire

Students for a Democratic Society SDS Manifesto 1962 Port Huron Statement Texan C. Wright Mills Power of reason, compassion, equality Individuality and social responsibility Critique of “the system” and bureaucratic institutions that alienate people

Universities and Free Speech HUAC in San Fran, 1960 Black Civil Rights Anti-War protests Criminalized dissent Debate in universities Raised consciousness California centered

Free Speech Movement Begins 1964 Jack Weinberg UC, Berkeley Cold War, CRM Universities suspended students Radicalized students “University-Military- Industrial complex”

Free Speech and the 1960s Mario Savio: “There’s a time when the operation of the machine is so odious, makes you sick at heart, that you can’t take part….And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”

FSM, BerkeleyMario Savio

Sources of Modern Environmentalism Roots in Conservation philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold Sierra Club Audubon Society Science, ecology, romanticism

Polluting the Environment Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1963) detailed the impact of chemicals in the environment Cold War: down-winders Industrialization Toxic chemicals, PCB’s, DDT, dioxin, mercury, arsenic, lead, nuclear waste, dumping in rivers, CO2, global warming, endangered species, Ozone

Legislation and Policies Wilderness Act of 1964 established “wild places” for protection from development 1967: Clean Air Act Nixon passed the National Environmental Protection Act (1969) and EPA in 1970

The Movement Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire (1968) Southwest, direct action, threat of Cold War and industry 1970: Earth Day (CA) Public Interest Research Groups (Nader)

Radical Movement 1971 Greenpeace: Vancouver & Washington opposition to nuclear testing. Boats used to disrupt testing off Aleutian Islands 1980 Earth First! Dave Foreman, Coal, uranium, oil drilling in Southwest. Tactic of “eco- sabotage.” Quoting Abbey, “The destruction of machinery is not terrorism; but violence toward nature is terrorism.” New Mexico Jack Loeffler, Ed Abbey, Black Mesa: Cold War and environmental destruction were linked. Permanent war footing = war on the environment. Generations of nuclear pollution

Abbey & Loeffler

Legacies of Environmentalism Recycling Solar Power Ecological thinking Federal regulation Endangered species Water and energy conservation Public health and personal impacts

Legacies of the Era Social and Cultural revolutions Awareness of non-white, non-male perspectives Not an economic or political revolution Most advances for white middle class women in areas of education, pay, job opportunities Expanded meaning and tactics of democracy Some gov’t protection of weak, poor, gender oppressed, children, elderly, people of color Questioning of authority and American exceptionalism Foreign Affairs and international relations