1. III. The Struggle for Equal Rights
C. Women’s Liberation Movement

2. C. Women’s Liberation Movement
“What does she want? Dear God, what does she want?” - Sigmund Freud

3. A Few Facts & Figures
World War II had brought more women than ever before out of the home into work. By 1960, 36 percent of all women sixteen and older- 23 million women-worked for paid wages. But although 43 percent of women with school-age children worked, there were nursery schools for only 2 percent- the rest had to work things out themselves.
Women were 50 percent of the voters-but (even by 1967) they held 4 percent of the state legislative seats, and 2 percent of the judgeships. The median income of the working woman was about one-third that of the man. And attitudes toward women did not seem to have changed much since the twenties.
Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, Chapter 19: Surprises

4. 2nd wave of Feminism
1st wave = suffragette movement (lasted 50 years – before U.S. women got the right to vote)
Fought all forms of male dominance
Fought against domestic violence, sexual harassment, fought in favor of improved female healthcare, women’s perspective in history, literature and the arts, women’s sexual needs
Power and Control on an economic level first and foremost
Women needed protection at the job level
Demanded Anti-discrimination laws
Equal pay for equal work/job opportunities

5. NOW: National Organization of Women 1966
Our Bodies, Ourselves about healthcare issues specific to women, first Published in 1971
Gloria Steinem: founded Ms. Magazine 1972
After Black Power, Women’s Liberation
Supported abortion rights

6. N.O.W. Statement of Purpose
We, men and women who hereby constitute ourselves as the National Organization for Women, believe that the time has come for a new movement toward true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes, as part of the worldwide revolution of human rights now taking place within and beyond our national borders.
The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men . . .
There is no civil rights movement to speak for women, as there has been for Negroes and victims of discrimination. The National Organization for Women must therefore begin to speak.
Source: NOW Statement of Purpose, October 29, 1966.

7. Milestones of Feminist Victories
Birth control pill approved by the FDA 1960
million million American women
Betty Friedan: Feminine Mystique bestseller in 1963
Title IX part of the Education Amendments of 1972
“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.”
Prohibited sex discrimination in education
More opportunities for women’s and girls’ athletics
Supreme Court Decision 1973 Roe vs. Wade
Legalization of abortion during 1st trimester
Major Political Offices:
1968 Shirley Chisolm – 1st African American woman elected to Congress
1972 Shirley Chisolm – 1st woman to run for Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination
1984 Geraldine Ferraro – 1st female Vice Presidential Candidate
2016 Hillary Clinton – 1st female U.S. President

8. Feminist Defeats
Comprehensive Childcare Act passed by Congress in 1971 but vetoed by Nixon
Equal Rights Amendment
Idea had been around for a long time (1920s – Alice Paul)
Congressional Approval in 1972
Amendment did not achieve ratification; fell 3 states shy
Phyllis Schlafly - outspoken critic
“stop taking our privileges”
dependent wife benefits + selective service registration

9. Forms of Protest Legislation (Childcare Act, Title IX, ERA)
Bra “Burning”
Protests/Marches (50,000 march from NYC 1970)
Strikes (50th anniversary of woman’s right to vote – 1970 in NY, Chicago, Boston & San Francisco)
Publications (Ms./Our Bodies, Ourselves Feminine Mystique / It Ain’t Me Babe newsletter, feminist poetry…)
Political activism and consciousness raising groups (WITCHes, Furies, Young Lords Woman’s Caucus, Black Sisters United, etc)

10. Miss America, 7 September 1968
In Atlantic City hundreds of US feminists gathered to protest against the meat market beauty pageant, leading to one of the funniest, but most inaccurate founding myths of second wave feminism, which is that women burned their bras to symbolise their emancipation from patriarchy. Anyone who’s tried to burn a bra – let alone one of those opaque flesh-coloured postwar girdle things – knows they don’t burn well. The under-trussings were in fact sloughed off and dumped into Freedom Trash Cans, along with high heels, fake eyelashes, copies of Cosmo and Playboy, mops, pots and pans – all items the protesters defined as “instruments of female torture”. The protest triggered a new and now mainstream critique of everything from “performative femininity” to the objectification of women, beauty ideals and domestic labour exploitation.
Source: The Guardian, “Ten direct actions by women that changed the world”, October 12th, 2015

11. How far have women come today?
The gender pay gap is narrowing but persistent
In 2015, women earned 83% of what men earned in the U.S., source: Pew Research Center analysis 
Organized protests against the gap urge women to walk out of their jobs at precisely 2:38 p.m. -- the time of day when they stop being paid (relative to men’s pay).
The glass ceiling
describes the restraints that inhibit women from rising to the top levels, without their being active discrimination by employers
Causes: Sexual harrasment, boys’ clubs, job segregation, lack of anti-discrimination enforcement
BUT the number of female CEOs in the Fortune 1000 is on the rise
Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence
One in four women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime
17.7 million victims of rape since 1998
99% of perpetrators of sexual violence walk free
4.8 million women are the victims of domestic violence every year
Source: Huffington Post, April 2017

12. Video: Women’s Liberation Movement 1950’s -1970’s 19’24
Another video documentary from 2014:
She’s Beautiful when She’s Angry

13. Conclusion: Equal Rights Movements
In what ways were the various struggles among minority groups in the United States similar and in what ways where they distinct?

14. Similarities What they were fighting for/against
equal access to education/employment
protection of their rights (voting, abortion)
fair treatment
Means of pressure
laws passed by Congress
Supreme Court decisions
protest marches/demonstrations
Media coverage
Creation of organizations
Emphasis on pride in their group’s origins or past suffering endured
Gradual radicalization of movements

15. Differences Violent vs. Non-violent means Victories & defeats
Will to integrate/remain separate from mainstream white (male) society
Sit-ins/Hunger strikes/Boycotts/riots/
Impact on public awareness through literary publications
Role of the media in educating people in their cause
Presence of religious undertones to the movement?
Attitudes encountered in government to their struggle