Rise of women's movement (1 gen 1966 anni – 1 gen 1980 anni)

Descrizione:

Equal Pay Act:Law passed in 1963 that established the principle of equal pay for equal work. Trade-union women were especially critical in pushing for, and winning, congressional passage of the law.

The Feminine Mystique: An influential book by Betty Friedan published in 1963 critiquing the ideal whereby women were encouraged to confine themselves to roles within the domestic sphere

Presidentiual Commision on the status of women: Commission appointed by President Kennedy in 1961 that issued a 1963 report documenting job and educational discrimination

NOW: Commission appointed by President Kennedy in 1961 that issued a 1963 report documenting job and educational discrimination


In the new era of liberal reform the women’s movement reawakened. Inspired by the civil rights movement and Great Society liberalism, but critical of the lack of attention both gave to women’s rights, feminists entered the political fray. A reenergized women’s movement demanded not just inclusion but a rethinking of national priorities (see “Comparing Interpretations”).

EXAM TIP
Evaluate the ways in which the feminism in the 1950s and 1960s illustrated continuity and change in comparison to earlier eras of American history.

Labor Feminists
Even as a traditional domestic ideal dominated the postwar decades, the push for gender equity did not languish entirely. Feminist concerns were kept alive in the 1950s and early 1960s by working women, who campaigned for such policies as maternity leave and equal pay for equal work. One historian has called these women “labor feminists,” because they belonged to trade unions and fought for equality and dignity in the workplace. “It became apparent to me why so many employers could legally discriminate against women — because it was written right into the law,” said one such activist. Women in trade unions proved critical in the push to pass the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which mandated that men and women performing the same job receive the same compensation.

The increasing voice of labor feminism reflected the changing times. An unprecedented number of women — including married women (40 percent by 1970) and mothers with young children (30 percent by 1970) — were working outside the home. But they faced a labor market that undervalued their contributions. Many working women faced the “double day”: they were expected to earn a paycheck and then return home to domestic labor. One woman put the problem succinctly: “The working mother has no ‘wife’ to care for her children.”

SKILLS & PROCESSES
CAUSATION

What factors accounted for the resurgence of feminism in the 1960s?

Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women
The political power of feminism was not limited to the working class. When Betty Friedan’s indictment of suburban domesticity, a book entitled The Feminine Mystique, appeared in 1963, it targeted college-educated, middle-class women who found themselves not working for wages but rather stifled by their domestic routines. Hundreds of thousands of women read Friedan’s book and thought, “She’s talking about me.” The Feminine Mystique became a runaway best-seller, persuading many middle-class women that they needed more than the convenience foods, improved diapers, and better laundry detergents that magazines and television urged them to buy. To live rich and fulfilling lives, they needed education and work outside the home.

The domesticity that Friedan criticized was already beginning to crumble by the time The Feminine Mystique appeared. After the postwar baby boom, women were again having fewer children, aided by the birth control pill that first hit the market in 1960. As states liberalized divorce laws, more women were breaking away from unsatisfying domestic lives. Educational levels were also rising: by 1970, women made up 42 percent of the college population. All of these changes undermined traditional gender roles and enabled many women to pursue the liberation called for by Friedan and other feminists.

EXAM TIP
The significance of The Feminine Mystique is important to know for the AP® Exam.

Government action also aided feminism’s resurgence. In 1961, Kennedy had appointed the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, which issued a 1963 report documenting the extent of gender discrimination in jobs and education. Entitled simply American Women , the report struck a middle ground — calling for the elimination of most barriers to women’s access to the labor market and higher education while also calling for greater support for women as mothers and caregivers. “We [as a nation] have by no means done enough,” the authors of American Women wrote, “to strengthen family life and at the same time encourage women to make their full contribution as citizens.” A bigger breakthrough came when Congress added the word “sex” to the categories protected against discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Women suddenly had a powerful legal tool for fighting gender discrimination.

To push for compliance with the new act, in 1966 Friedan and others, including labor feminists from around the country, founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) . Modeled on the NAACP, NOW intended to be a civil rights organization for women, with the aim of bringing “women into full participation in … American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.” Under Friedan’s leadership, NOW’s membership grew to fifteen thousand by 1971, and the group became a powerful voice for equal rights.

A black-and-white photo shows leaders of the National Women’s Political Caucus speaking with the press in 1971.
National Women’s Political Caucus

Leaders of the National Women’s Political Caucus speak with the press in 1971. From left to right are activist and journalist Gloria Steinem, Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and author and activist Betty Friedan. Founded to advance a broad political program on behalf of American women, the Caucus called for reproductive and economic rights, women’s social and legal equality, and an increase in women’s participation in local, state, and national government.


The photo shows leaders from left to right as follows. activist and journalist Gloria Steinem, Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and author and activist Betty Friedan.

One of the ironies of the 1960s was how the surge in liberal activism strained the New Deal coalition. Faced with contradictory demands from the civil rights movement, feminists, the poor, labor unions, white southerners, the suburban middle class, and urban political machines, the venerable and broad Democratic coalition began to fray. Johnson and other national leaders hoped that the center would hold as the party resolved the competing demands of its own constituents while fending off conservative attacks. In 1965, that still seemed possible. But just a few years later, the once-durable coalition would fracture beyond repair.

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