The Women’s Rights Movement H-SS 11.10.7- Analyze the women’s rights movement from the era of Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the movement launched in the 1960s, including differing perspectives on the roles of women. H-SS 11.11.3 – Describe the changing roles of women in society as reflected in the entry of more women into the labor force and the changing family structure.
A new feminist movement began in the 1960s. Feminism - the belief that men and women should be equal politically, economically, and socially. World War II women joined the workforce when men went off to fight the war. Women lost the jobs and went back to being housewives after the war.
Women gradually returned to the labor market, by 1960 made up almost 40% of it. Women became resentful of old stereotypes, objected to inaccuracy of housewife stereotype.
The Civil Rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s prompted women to examine the ways that society discriminated against them as a group. “Sex and caste. There seem to be many parallels that can be drawn between the treatment of Negroes and the treatment of women in society as a whole” Casey Hayden and Mary King
1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed. It outlawed paying men more than women for the same job. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act outlawed job discrimination. It became the legal basis for advances by the women’s movement. The federal agency charged with administering the new law was the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
In 1963 Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique stirred up women across the nation. Friedan traveled the country interviewing women who had graduated with her from Smith College in 1942. She discovered that although they had everything they could want, they felt unfulfilled. It was a bestseller
Friedan founded the National Organization for Women (NOW), a women’s organization that demanded greater educational opportunities and denounced the exclusion of women from certain professions and political positions.
Title 9
Successes and Failures of the Movement In 1972 Congress enacted Title IX legislation that prohibits federally funded schools from discriminating against girls in all aspects of their operations, from admissions to athletics. Implementation of Title IX (IX = 9)was slow at many schools women had to struggle for equality.
In 1960s states adopted liberal abortion laws that allowed women to have an abortion when her mental health was in question or in the case of rape or incest. Roe v. Wade (1973) the Supreme Court ruled that state gov’ts could no longer regulate abortion during the first 3 months of pregnancy, a time w/in a woman’s constitutional right to privacy. Gave rise to the right-to-life movement who regard all abortions as morally wrong.
The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972 The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972. For it to become part of the Constitution 38 states had to ratify it. Opposition to ERA began to grow as many saw the act as a threat to traditional rights, such as the right to alimony. Phyllis Schlafly organized a national Stop-ERA campaign the amendment was never ratified and it died in 1982.
Women’s movement fostered a shift in attitudes among both men and women. Percentage of women in the workforce has grown from 30% in 50s to more than 60% now. Fields once closed to women are now open, such as police officer, politician, doctor, etc.
Despite gains average woman is paid less than average man, partly due to women working in fields that pay less. This is called the “pink collar ghetto”
Many women shoulder family responsibilities like cooking, housework, and kids and work. Studies suggest a “glass ceiling” exists that limits the advancement of women to higher paying jobs.
In the U.S. seen a feminization of poverty Women have the lowest paying jobs, many are single, and they have to raise children alone while working.