The Feminist Movement

• The Feminist Movement

  More and more women had started to work during WWII – around 6 million worked in factories. Being able to earn their own money gave them a new sense of independence. By 1960, women made up around half of the workforce.
• What status commission report was set up in 1960 by JFK?

  In 1960, JFK set up the Status Commission to report on women in the workplace. In 1963, it reported that:

  • Women earned around 60% less than men for the same job

  • 95% of managers were men – the majority of work for women was part-time and with limited responsibility.

  • Only 4% of lawyers and 7% of doctors were women

  • In some jobs (such as cabin crew) women could be legally dismissed if they were married.
• The feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s

  The feminist movement of the 1960s and '70s originally focused on dismantling workplace inequality, such as denial of access to better jobs and salary inequity, via anti-discrimination laws. In 1964, Representative Howard Smith of Virginia proposed to add a prohibition on gender discrimination into the Civil Rights Act that was under consideration. He was greeted by laughter from the other Congressmen, but with leadership from Representative Martha Griffiths of Michigan, the law passed with the amendment intact.
• The Feminine Mystique

  In 1963 Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. This was a very important book in terms of women’s rights and the feminist movement. Friedan said that women should have equal rights with men in every way and that women should be able to pursue a good career.
• National Organisation for Women

  In 1966 Friedan and others established the National Organisation for Women - they demanded equal rights for women in US law and a woman's right to make her own decisions with regards to reproduction (at the time abortion was illegal in all US states). Women held protests and strikes in order to gain these rights. Within a few years NOW had 400,000 members. However, it was many middle-class, middle-aged women. Younger, more extreme women became known as the Women’s Liberation Movement.
• 1965


  All married couples should be allowed to use contraceptives.
• 1969


  California is the first state to adopt a 'no fault' divorce law, allowing couples to divorce by mutal consent.
• 1972


  Educational Amendment Act - bans sexual discrimination in education, enabling girls to study the same subjects as boys.
• 1972


  A change to the constitution (the Equal Rights Amendment) ERA was passed by congress. It said that equality of rights under the law could not be denied on basis of sex. However, the Stop ERA campaign led by Phyllis Schlafly manaed to oppose it and stp it based on the assumption that it would lead to higher abortion rates and women in combat.
• 1973


  Lawyers argued successfully that 21 year-old Jane Roe (her real name was Norma McCorvey) had the right to an abortion. She already had two children, both of which had been adopted. The Supreme Court ruled that women had the right to safe and legal abortion, over-riding anti-abortion laws of many states.