The Women’s Movement
This movement prevailed in the late 1960’s when women began to question their traditional roles in U.S. society. During the 1950’s and 60’s, society pressured women to marry, have children, and then remain at home to raise those children. Societies view was that women’s abilities in the workplace and in public life were limited by their physical fragility and by their roles as mothers. Women were expected to stay at home while the men provide the financial support. Therefore, women were routinely left out from high status or well-paying jobs.
Women had just gained the right to vote in 1930 and took little part in the nation’s political and economic life. In 1963, Betty Friedan, published the best-seller, The Feminine Mystique. This book related to women’s dissatisfaction with the role that society expected of them and encouraged women to work for change. Some activists fought for equal job opportunities, while others focused on changing relations between men and women. By questioning gender roles, they tried to change society’s perception that a women’s worth was based on her physical attractiveness. Other important issues were women’s control over their bodies, abortion, rapes were rarely prosecuted, and domestic violence was often accepted as a private matter. Radical activists rejected patriarchal values, or men’s values; competition, aggressiveness, and selfishness. They believed that women were naturally more nurturing and compassionate and advocated a society based on women’s values.
Small changes began in 1971 when Congress banned discrimination against girls and women in schools. In 1973 feminist lawyers won a Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, in which the justices ruled that women had the constitutional right to choose to have and abortion.
Events During the Women’s Movement:
1960
(May 9) The Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive, commonly known as “the Pill,” for sale as birth control in the United States.
1961
(November 1) Women Strike for Peace, founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson, drew 50,000 women nationwide to protest nuclear weapons and U.S. involvement in war in southeast Asia.
1963 (June 10) The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy.
1964
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including the Title VII prohibition of discrimination based on sex.
Including Social Movements 