The Women’s Movement
Free Write Do you think women have achieved complete equality? Why or why not?
How life was different? School Family life & Dating Work & Life for Men
The Awakening
Critiques Publication of “The Feminine Mystique” 1963
After seeing the successes of the Civil Rights Movement Women organized to argue for equality and opportunities
Political Goals Job Opportunities Educational Opportunities Economic Opportunities Equal treatment
National Organization for Women 1966- N.O.W. focused on legal and political action for womens’ equality LEADERS: Betty Friedan Gloria Steinem
Critiques “It makes you very sensitive – raw, even this consciousness. Everything, from the verbal assault on the street, to a ‘well-meant’ sexist joke your husband tells, to the lower pay you get at work (for doing the same job a man would be paid more for), to television commercials, to rock-song lyrics, to the pink or blue blanket they put on your infant in the hospital nursery, to speeches by male ‘revolutionaries’ that reek of male supremacy – everything seems to barrage your aching brain…You begin to see how all-pervasive a thing is sexism. - quoted in Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement
Important Laws Equal Pay Act (1963) -mandated equal pay for equal jobs Executive Order 11375 (1967) – bans gender discrimination in gov’t hiring Title IX (1972) – mandates equal funding for girls’ sports
“The Personal is Political” Issues that had traditionally been seen as personal were reframed as political issues: Domestic Violence Sexual Harassment Abortion Contraceptives Griswold v. Connecticut: fundamental “right to privacy”
Changing the World
The Pill First approved for contraceptive use by Congress in 1960 By 1970, 12 million women on the pill Significance Pregnancy now a choice made by women Family size changed as a result
Abortion Roe v. Wade (1973) made abortion legal [in first three months of pregnancy] Decision based on the idea that women had the right to privacy and control over their own bodies
ERA Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Proposed in 1972 – how long do you think it took to pass?
“If I could choose an amendment to add to the Constitution, it would be the Equal Rights Amendment. I think we have achieved that through legislation, but legislation can be repealed, it can be altered. So I would like my granddaughters, when they pick up the Constitution, to see that notion – that women and men are persons of equal stature – I’d like them to see that is a basic principle of our society.”
Backlash -Backlash against the movement “Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.” - Phyllis Schlafly -Others blamed feminism for ruining the traditional family, hurting children, and many of society’s other ills
New Career Opportunities
But change was already happening…
Gains & Roadblocks
Women in the Workplace Today, 26 women are serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (5.2%). Just 20 years ago, there were no female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
Gender Wage Gap In 2012, the median hourly earnings for female workers 16 and older were 84% of men’s earnings. The gap is much smaller among young workers ages 25 to 34; women in this age group made about 93% of what men in this age group made. In 1980: earnings of all employed women were 64% as much as all employed men received.
Women in the Media Another obstacle to equality is portrayal of women in the media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UZZV3xU6Q
Women make up 50.8% of the population It is estimated that, at the current rate of change, it will take until 2085 for women to reach parity with men in leadership roles in our country.
Homework Read the excerpt from “When Everything Changed” Answer the questions at the end on a separate sheet of paper
Extra
Critiques “It makes you very sensitive – raw, even this consciousness. Everything, from the verbal assault on the street, to a ‘well-meant’ sexist joke your husband tells, to the lower pay you get at work (for doing the same job a man would be paid more for), to television commercials, to rock-song lyrics, to the pink or blue blanket they put on your infant in the hospital nursery, to speeches by male ‘revolutionaries’ that reek of male supremacy – everything seems to barrage your aching brain…You begin to see how all-pervasive a thing is sexism. - quoted in Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement