Household products marketed to women A 1950s ad for a cleaning product A 1950s ad for an electric iron

Central Historical Question Is the image of the happy 1950s housewife accurate?

Were housewives happy with their lives? Were women in the 1950s just staying at home? Documents A and B say women were staying at home; but Documents C and D say that women were politically involved and even working. Who should we believe? Do you think African-American, Latina, Asian American, and women from other minority groups had similar experiences to those depicted in these documents?

1960s Women’s Movement

Women Fight for Equality “The problem lay buried, unspoken. . . . It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—‘Is this all?’” -Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

Feminist Ideas Feminism: the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men Had started in the 1800’s Women’s suffrage movement Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions Died out after 19th Amendment Revived by the social movements in 1960s

Women in the Workplace 1950 – 1 out of 3 women 1960 – 40% of women in workplace Women’s Work vs. Men’s Work Clerical work, domestic service, retail sales, social work, teaching, and nursing 1961 - Presidential Commission on the Status of Women Women were paid far less than men, even when doing the same jobs Women were seldom promoted to management positions

Women and Activism During the Civil Rights and Anti-War Movements, many women were assigned lesser roles while men were the leaders From this, the women’s movement emerged Female discontent – The Feminine Mystique “The Women’s Liberation Movement exists where three or four friends or neighbors decide to meet regularly . . . on the welfare lines, in the supermarket, the factory, the convent, the farm, the maternity ward.” -Robin Morgan

National Organization of Women Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender Created EEOC Some women argued that the EEOC didn’t adequately address women’s grievances Response: Creation of NOW in 1966 “The time has come,” the founders of NOW declared, “to confront with concrete action the conditions which now prevent women from enjoying the equality of opportunity . . . which is their right as individual Americans and as human beings.” By 1969 – 175,000 members

Goals of NOW Pushed for the creation of child-care facilities that would enable mothers to pursue jobs and education NOW also pressured the EEOC to enforce the ban on gender discrimination in hiring NOW’s efforts prompted the EEOC to declare sex-segregated job ads illegal and to issue guidelines to employers, stating that they could no longer refuse to hire women for traditionally male jobs

Gloria Steinem Gloria Steinem: Helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus A moderate group that encouraged women to seek political office One of the founders of a new women’s magazine – Ms. Treatment of contemporary issues from a feminist perspective

Legal & Social Gains 1960 – FDA approves birth control pill 1972 – Title IX of Education Amendments No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. 1973 – Roe v. Wade – legalized abortions

Equal Rights Amendment 1972 – Congress passes the ERA Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Opposition to ERA Stop-ERA Campaign: Phyllis Schlafly & conservative religious groups thought that it would lead to: Drafting of women The end of laws protecting homemakers The end of a husband’s responsibility to provide for his family Same-sex marriages Became “pro-family” movement, which turned into – The New Right Focused on social, cultural, and moral problems Would play a major role in the conservative movement in the 1980s

Legacy of the Movement Transformed women’s conventional roles and their attitudes toward career and family Succeeded in expanding career opportunities for women “For we have lived the second American revolution,” wrote Betty Friedan in 1976,“and our very anger said a ‘new YES’ to life.”