History 17C The American People, World War I to the Present
The Women’s Movement
Gay Rights Movement, late 1960s-early 1970s
Transvestites under arrest, New York, 1962 Conditions for gays and lesbians in 1950s and 1960s: severe social stigma, threat of job loss, laws against homosexual conduct
“Homophile” Groups Mattachine Society
“Homophile” Groups Daughters of Bilitis
“Homophile” Groups Mattachine Society members picketing White House, 1965
“Stonewall Riots,” New York City, 1969
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Activist Alliance
The Women’s Movement
Themes In the mid- to late 1960s, two distinct forms of feminism emerged: a mainstream version concerned mainly with women’s economic and professional advancement and participation in political life, and a more radical version concerned with challenging patriarchy as a whole and the subordination of women in every realm of life
Themes Although these two strands were sometimes mutually antagonistic, in the early 1970s mainstream feminism incorporated many elements of radical feminism, resulting in a profound transformation in American society, culture, and politics
American women in the 1950s
Five Wellsprings of 2nd-Wave Feminism Two Broad Social Transformations: 1. The post-1941 economy, which increasingly drew middle-class women into the workforce and into higher education 2. The revolution in contraception, which widened the separation between sex and reproduction
Five Wellsprings of 2nd-Wave Feminism Three Movement Traditions: 1. First-wave feminism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries 2. Working-class movements of the 1930s and 1940s 3. Social protest movements of the 1960s
Equal Rights Amendment (favored by National Woman’s Party) “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by a State on account of sex.”
Women’s Employment, YearPercentage of Women in Paid Employment
Women’s Employment, YearPercentage of Paid Workers Who Were Women
Women in Higher Education
The cult of female domesticity
Betty Friedan 1963
1961—Assistant Secretary of Labor Esther Peterson convinced John F. Kennedy to establish President’s Commission on the Status of Women Feminism within the mainstream
President’s Commission on the Status of Women, Eleanor Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy
Equal Pay Act, 1963
Civil Rights Act of 1964
During debate over Civil Rights bill, Congressman Howard Smith of Virginia inserted amendment banning discrimination on basis of sex
Civil Rights Act created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate claims employment discrimination on account of race, religion, national origin, and sex
... but EEOC often refused to investigate gender discrimination claims
Gender-segregated job listings
National Organization for Women (NOW) founded 1966 Betty Friedan
1968—NOW got EEOC to ban gender-segregated employment ads
1968—NOW got airlines to end policy of forcing female flight attendants to retire at age 32
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Feminism within “The Movement” Students for a Democratic Society
The birth control pill and the sexual revolution
Pressure on “Movement” women to be sexually available Antiwar poster
Casey Hayden Feminists in SNCC and SDS Mary King
SDS cartoon ridiculing women’s liberation, 1967
Sanitation workers’ strike, Memphis, TN, 1968 Assertions of manhood in ’60s protests
Youth International Party Abbie HoffmanJerry Rubin Misogyny on the left
White Panther Party John Sinclair Misogyny on the left
“Miss America” protest, 1968
“Consciousness-Raising” groups
Radicalesbians
Women of Color in the Movement
National Black Feminist Organization Faith Ringgold Margaret Sloan-Hunter
Gloria Steinem
Betty Friedan leading march for ERA, 1970 Reemergence of Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
1972—Congress Passed ERA Ratification by states still necessary...
Phyllis Schlafly Antifeminist backlash
1973—US Supreme Court Issued Roe v. Wade
Ruth Rosen: “The hidden injuries of sex” In 1970s, issues and grievances once seen as purely private and personal were increasingly subject to public discussion, activism, legislation, and policymaking
“Run for Your Life” The Beatles, 1965
Well, I’d rather see you dead, little girl, Than to be with another man You better keep your head, little girl, Or you won’t know where I am You better run for you life if you can, little girl, Hide your head in the sand, little girl, Catch you with another man That’s the end of little girl
“Run for Your Life” The Beatles, 1965 Well, you know that I’m an old wicked guy And I was born with a jealous mind And I can’t spend my whole life trying Just to make you toe the line You better run for you life if you can, little girl, Hide your head in the sand, little girl, Catch you with another man That’s the end of little girl
“Run for Your Life” The Beatles, 1965 Let this be a sermon I mean everything I said Baby, I’m determined That I’d rather see you dead You better run for you life if you can, little girl, Hide your head in the sand, little girl, Catch you with another man That’s the end of little girl
Kate Millett 1970
Susan Brownmiller 1975 Rape and other forms of sexual assault
Domestic violence
Sexual harassment
1980—EEOC listed sexual harassment as actionable grievance in the workplace Sexual harassment