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Evaluate the successes and failures of the feminist movement in one…
Evaluate the successes and failures of the feminist movement in one country of the region during the period 1945 – 1979.
Employment and Economic Challenges
The government’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) publicly refused to enforce Title VII of the CR Act (1964) which contained a ban on discrimination in employment on the basis of sex as well as race
This prompted Betty Friedan, pioneers of the labour movement, business women, professional women and participants of the CRM to form the National Organisation for Women (NOW)
NOW aimed to monitor the enforcement of the legislation, and to demand an amendment to the Constitution that affirmed women’s right to equality
NOW’s tactics included litigation, political pressure, public information campaigns and protests
1970 = NOW organised a national women’s strike for equality
Produced a Bill of Rights for Women, which sought the enforcement of Title VII, equal access to education, employment, maternity leave and reproductive rights
By 1977 NOW had nearly 70,000 members
Income inequality
Lower-paying jobs
Economic dependence on males
Divorce Laws
Societal Norms
The status quo
Gender inequality was often enshrined in law or practice
18 states refused to allow women to be jurors, 17 forbade them from being bartenders and 6 said they could not enter into financial agreements without a male co-signatory
Women’s Magazines, films and advertisements of the 1950s promoted domesticity as the norm and ideal
Sociologists pointed out how girls were trained to play with dolls and later felt under pressure to emphasise their femininity and hide their intelligence
Changes to social norms following WW2
Twice as many women were employed in 1968 as in 1940. Working women were naturally ore aware of and inclined to discuss inequality in the workplace
Some women took refuge in tranquillisers and/or alcohol
Betty Friedan's book, The Feminine Mystique, helped pave the way for the new phase of women's liberation.
She wrote about what she described as ‘the problem that has no name’
The Feminine Mystique averred that women were imprisoned in a ‘comfortable concentration camp’
She urged women to break out of the camp and fulfil their potential
The book tapped into women’s discontent and was a bestseller, particularly among college students
The CRM provided the catalyst for feminism, in several ways:
It publicised that groups could be discriminated against on the grounds of culture and physical characteristics
It showed the power of pressure groups in gaining legislative reform
Women faced discrimination and sexual harassment in organisations such as SNCC, SCLC and CORE which inspired many female CR activists to campaign for gender as well as racial equality
Gloria Steinem published Ms. a magazine that explored issues such as female sexuality and the glass ceiling
1968 = Miss America Protest where over 100 women objected to the swim-suit pageant with a stink bomb and crowning a live sheep “Miss America”
They threw bras, girdles, curlers, flash eyelashes, wigs and other “women’s garbage’ into a freedom trash-can
They sang “ Atlantic City is a town without class, they raise your morals and they judge your ass
Education Challenges
From 1967, women discussed discrimination and inequality in consciousness-raising meetings in colleges and in the community
Kathy Striebel
This woman was a high school junior in 1971 when she wanted to compete for her school's swim team in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was told she could not because her school did not allow it
Title IX
A United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "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."
Marriage and Birth Rights
Schools expelled pregnant girls and fired pregnant teachers
One group wrote “Our Bodies Ourselves” which held practical information on anatomy, sexuality, rape, self-defence, STDs, birth control, abortion, pregnancy, childcare and the menopause
Margaret Sanger
A nurse who led the feminist birth control movement
Want to legalise birth control
Found Planned Parenthood
Roe V. Wade (1973)
The court legalized abortion. Based on 4th Amendment rights of a person to be secure in their persons. Gave woman's right to choose (in first trimester- 3 months). Protected woman's privacy on reproductive issues
THESIS
The modern women's movement in the United States occurred in two major waves. The first wave of the feminist movement took place between 1880 and 1930 and included major influences, such as Emma Goldman, Margaret Sanger, Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt. The major achievement of the period was securing the right to suffrage via the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. However, the movement for liberty and equality suffered, and ultimately collapsed, following the Great Depression and the Second World War.
After a brief period of inertia, the women's movement gained momentum with the onset of the 1960s. After the war, increasing numbers of women joined the paid workforce, although mostly as waitresses, cleaners, shop assistants or secretaries. The second wave of feminism had many successes and failures in relation to provoking a reaction from the government, and gaining media attention.
HISTORIOGRPHY
William Chafe (1972)
argued that women’s views were crucially transformed by WW2
“a catalyst which broke up old modes of behaviour and helped forge new ones”
Joanne Meyerowitz (1994)
argued that the domesticity ideal was already undermined before Betty Friedan
Vicki Crawford (1990) and Nancy Gabin (1990)
pointed out that ordinary women had been pressuring for abortions long before the women’s movements of the 1960s and roe v Wade
Also pointed out that the pressure from these ordinary women had led sympathetic doctors to campaign for the legalisation of abortion
Sarah Evans (1979 and 2000)
took the more conventional line that it was the 1960s, especially the CRM and the New Left, that stimulated white women activists to begin the real struggle for gender equality
Successes
PRESIDENT JOHNSON: responded to feminist lobbying with an executive order that banned gender discrimination in federal connected employment
PRESIDENT KENNEDY organized the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, which helped usher in change such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, making wage discrimination a federal crime, and the end of gender discrimination in the federal workplace.
Moreover, women were included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when gender discrimination was outlawed in addition to race discrimination.
SUPREME COURT: the greatest successes of the women’s liberation movement came through the Supreme Court:
In Reed v Reed (1971) The Supreme Court Ruled against the State of Idaho’s preference for men over women as executors of the estates, saying that laws differentiating men and women had to be ‘reasonable not arbitary”
NOW played a big part in the 1972 Supreme Court unanimous ruling that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment applied to women
Failures
PRESIDENT NIXON: made it clear that he opposed the ERA even as Congress overwhelmingly voted for it
Opposed abortion and vetoed the 1971 Child Development Act —> a bill passed by Democrat-controlled congress
His veto pleased those who valued the nuclear family and believed that mothers should stay at home and look after the children and those who felt the system would be too expensive
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
states may regulate abortion as long as there is "no undue burden" on the mother; did not overturn Roe v. Wade but gave states more leeway in regulating abortion (parental consent for minors, 24 hour waiting period)