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Second-wave feminism



 
 
The "second-wave" of the Women's Movement, Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist
Feminism

Feminism is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights to men. It involves various movements, Theory, and philosophies, all concerned with issues of gender difference, that advocate equality for women and that campaign for women's rights and interests....
 activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Whereas first-wave feminism
First-wave feminism

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States....
 focused mainly on overturning legal (de jure
De jure

De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".The terms de jure and de facto are used instead of "in principle" and "in practice", respectively, when one is describing politics or legal situations....
) obstacles to equality (i.e. voting rights
History of women's suffrage in the United States

Women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the...
, property rights), second-wave feminism addressed a wide range of issues, including unofficial (de facto
De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning the fact" or in practice but not necessarily ordained by law. It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation....
) inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and, perhaps most controversially, reproductive rights.

Though it is widely accepted that the movement lasted from the 1960s
1960s

The 1960s list of decades were the years from the start of 1960 to the end of 1969. The term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends in the west, particularly United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Italy, and Ger...
 into the late 1970s
1970s

The 1970s, or the Seventies was the decade that ran from January 1, 1970 to December 31, 1979.In the western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow....
, the exact years of the movement are more difficult to pinpoint and are often disputed.






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The "second-wave" of the Women's Movement, Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist
Feminism

Feminism is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights to men. It involves various movements, Theory, and philosophies, all concerned with issues of gender difference, that advocate equality for women and that campaign for women's rights and interests....
 activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Whereas first-wave feminism
First-wave feminism

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States....
 focused mainly on overturning legal (de jure
De jure

De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".The terms de jure and de facto are used instead of "in principle" and "in practice", respectively, when one is describing politics or legal situations....
) obstacles to equality (i.e. voting rights
History of women's suffrage in the United States

Women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the...
, property rights), second-wave feminism addressed a wide range of issues, including unofficial (de facto
De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning the fact" or in practice but not necessarily ordained by law. It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation....
) inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and, perhaps most controversially, reproductive rights.

Though it is widely accepted that the movement lasted from the 1960s
1960s

The 1960s list of decades were the years from the start of 1960 to the end of 1969. The term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends in the west, particularly United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Italy, and Ger...
 into the late 1970s
1970s

The 1970s, or the Seventies was the decade that ran from January 1, 1970 to December 31, 1979.In the western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow....
, the exact years of the movement are more difficult to pinpoint and are often disputed. The movement is usually believed to have begun in 1963, when "Mother of the Movement" Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan

Betty Naomi Friedan was an United States feminism social activism and writer, best known for starting the "Feminist Movement in the United States " through the writing of her book The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which attacked the 1950s notion, spread through society by advertising and strict enforcement of traditional gender roles, that...
 published her bestseller, The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique, published 19 February, 1963 is a book written by Betty Friedan, published by W.W. Norton and company which brought to light the lack of fulfillment in many women's lives, which was generally kept hidden....
 and President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women....
 released its report on gender inequality. The report, which revealed great discrimination against women in American life, along with Friedan's book, which spoke to the discontent of many women (especially housewives
Homemaker

Homemaker is a mainly Americanism term which may refer either to:* the person within a family who is primarily concerned with the management of the household, whether or not he or she works outside the home...
), led to the formation of many local, state, and federal government women's groups as well as many independent women's liberation organizations.

By the early 1980s
1980s

The 1980s or the Eighties or the 80s or the years between the 70s and the 90s, was the decade that ran from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989....
 it was largely perceived that women had met their goals and succeeded in changing social attitudes towards gender roles, repealing oppressive laws that were based on sex, integrating the boys' clubs such as Military academies
Military academy

A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the Army, the Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard or provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned....
, the United States Military, NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
, single-sex colleges, men's clubs, and the Supreme Court
Supreme court

A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some jurisdictions the highest court within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court....
, and illegalizing gender discrimination. In 1982 the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed Article Five of the United States Constitution to the United States Constitution which was intended to guarantee Women's rights under the law for United States regardless of sex....
 to the United States Constitution
United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America; the Federal Government of the United States; and all the State & local governments and Territorial Administrative bodies contained therein....
 failed, only three states short of ratification, but due to the successes of the movement, however, many women felt they no longer needed an ERA.

The movement was largely successful, the ERA viewed as the only major failure of Women's Liberation. Despite the failure of the ERA, however, efforts to ratify it have continued, and in 2008 President Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the List of Presidents of the United States and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office....
 was elected on a platform championing it. Twenty-one states have ERAs in their state constitutions. Many women's groups are still active and are major political forces. Today more women earn bachelor's degrees than men , half of the Ivy League
Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of university in the Northeastern United States. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group....
 presidents are women, the numbers of women in government and traditionally male-dominated fields have dramatically increased, and in 2009 women are expected to pass men in the American work force. A significant wage gap exists between the sexes, although it has been narrowing in the wake of the feminist movement.

Overview

The second wave feminism came in as a response to the late 1940s post-war
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 boom, an era not only characterised by an unprecedented economic growth, baby boom
Baby boom

A baby boom is any period of greatly increased birth rate during a certain period, and usually within certain geography bounds and when the birth rate exceeds 2% of the population....
, suburbia expansion and the triumph of capitalism, being set as the standard socio-economic model that favours middle-class development, but also an era marked by a consistent effort to re-establish pre-war patriarchal social trends. This fact was clearly illustrated by the media of time, television shows such as Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best is a long-run United States radio and television comedy series which portrayed middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s....
 and Leave it to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver is a 1950s and 1960s family-oriented American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naive boy named Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood....
 idealised domesticity, placing women in a closed sphere where they only had to fulfill the roles of housewives and mothers.Although not popularised until 20 years later, in her work The Second Sex
The Second Sex

The Second Sex is one of the best known works of the France Existentialism Simone de Beauvoir. It is a work on the treatment of women throughout history and often regarded as a major work of feminist literature....
, Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a France author and philosopher. She wrote novels, monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography in several volumes....
 examined, as early as 1949, the notion of women being perceived as "other" in the patriarchal society. She went on to conclude that male-centered ideology was being further accepted as a norm and enforced simply by the ongoing development of myths, and that the fact that women are capable of getting pregnant, lactating, and menstruating is in no way a valid cause or explanation to place them as the "second sex". Furthermore, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein notes that in 1963 Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan

Betty Naomi Friedan was an United States feminism social activism and writer, best known for starting the "Feminist Movement in the United States " through the writing of her book The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which attacked the 1950s notion, spread through society by advertising and strict enforcement of traditional gender roles, that...
 explicitly objected to the mainstream media image of women, stating that placing women at home limited their possibilities, horizons, and was a mere waste of talent and potential. The perfect nuclear family
Nuclear family

Sorry, no overview for this topic
 image depicted and strongly marketed at the time in reality did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women.

Timeline of key events


The rise of the second-wave


Late 1950s
1950s

The 1950s decade was the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive. The Fifties in the developed western world are generally considered social conservative and highly Consumerism in nature....
  • Americans realize women are disgruntled by their status in society and their inability to hold successful careers or achieve equality.


1960
  • The Food and Drug Administration
    Food and Drug Administration

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, Medications, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation-emitting devices, veteri...
     approves birth control pills. They are made available in 1961.


1961
  • President Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy

    John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
     makes women's rights a key issue of the New Frontier
    New Frontier

    The term New Frontier was used by John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the U.S. presidential election, 1960 to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the United States Democratic Party nominee....
    , and names women (such as Esther Peterson
    Esther Peterson

    Esther Eggertsen Peterson was a lifelong Consumer protection and Feminism advocate.She was Assistant Secretary of United States Department of Labor and Director of the United States Women's Bureau for President John F....
    ) to many high-ranking posts in his administration.
  • Kennedy establishes a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
    Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

    The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women....
    , chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt
    Eleanor Roosevelt

    Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, President Franklin D....
     and comprising cabinet officials (including Peterson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
    Robert F. Kennedy

    Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also called RFK, was an United States politician. He was United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and a United States Senator from New York from 1965 until his Robert F....
    ), senators, representatives, businesspeople, psychologists, sociologists, professors, activists, and public servants.
  • 50,000 women in 60 cities, mobilized by Women Strike for Peace
    Women Strike for Peace

    Women Strike for Peace is a United States women's peace activist group....
    , protest above ground testing of nuclear bombs and tainted milk.
  • Helen Gurley Brown writes Sex and the Single Girl.


1963
  • The Commission's report finds discrimination against women in every aspect of American life and outlines plans to achieve equality. Specific recommendations for women in the workplace include fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care.
  • Twenty years after it is first proposed, the Equal Pay Act establishes equality of pay for men and women performing equal work. However, it does not cover domestics, agricultural workers, executives, administrators or professionals.
  • Betty Friedan
    Betty Friedan

    Betty Naomi Friedan was an United States feminism social activism and writer, best known for starting the "Feminist Movement in the United States " through the writing of her book The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which attacked the 1950s notion, spread through society by advertising and strict enforcement of traditional gender roles, that...
    's The Feminine Mystique
    The Feminine Mystique

    The Feminine Mystique, published 19 February, 1963 is a book written by Betty Friedan, published by W.W. Norton and company which brought to light the lack of fulfillment in many women's lives, which was generally kept hidden....
     is published, becomes a best-seller, and lays the groundwork for the feminist movement.
  • Alice Rossi presents "Equality Between the Sexes: An Immodest Proposal" at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences

    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to scholarship and the advancement of learning. It serves as a nationwide honor society for the United States....
     conference.


1964
  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
    Civil Rights Act of 1964

    The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment....
     bars employment discrimination on account of sex, race, etc. by private employers, employment agencies, and unions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
    Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency charged with ending employment discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability and retaliation for reporting and/or opposing a discriminatory practice....
     is established; in its first five years, 50,000 complaints of gender discrimination are received.


1965
  • Casey Hayden and Mary King
    Mary King

    Mary King may refer to:*Mary King , professor at the University of Peace* Mary King , British equestrian and Olympic silver medallist* Mary King , Trinidad and Tobago economist and senator...
     circulate a memo about sexism in Civil Rights Movement.
  • The Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut
    Griswold v. Connecticut

    Griswold v. Connecticut, Case citation , was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected a right to privacy....
     strikes down the only remaining state law banning the use of contraceptives by married couples.
  • The case Weeks v. Southern Belle marks a major triumph in the fight against restrictive labor laws and company regulations on the hours and conditions of women’s work, opening many previously male-only jobs to women.
  • The "Woman Question" is raised for the first time at a Students for Democratic Society (SDS) conference.
  • EEOC commissioners are appointed to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Among them there is only one woman, Aileen Hernandez
    Aileen Hernandez

    Aileen Clark Hernandez is an American union organizer and civil right activist. She was born May 23, 1926, in Brooklyn, NY, of Jamacian-American parents, was educated in New York City, and attended Howard University, where she received a magna cum laude degree in Political Science and Sociology; she also has a Master's Degree in Government fr...
    , a future president of NOW.


The Time is NOW


1966
  • Twenty-eight women, among them Betty Friedan
    Betty Friedan

    Betty Naomi Friedan was an United States feminism social activism and writer, best known for starting the "Feminist Movement in the United States " through the writing of her book The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which attacked the 1950s notion, spread through society by advertising and strict enforcement of traditional gender roles, that...
    , found the National Organization for Women
    National Organization for Women

    The National Organization for Women is the largest United States feminist organization. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 U.S....
     (NOW) to function as a civil rights organization for women. Betty Friedan becomes its first President. The group is the largest women's group in the U.S. and pursues its goals through extensive legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations.


1967
  • Executive Order
    Executive order

    An executive order in the United States is a directive issued by the President of the United States, the head of the Executive of the Federal government of the United States....
     11375 expands President Johnson
    Lyndon B. Johnson

    Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
    's 1965 affirmative action
    Affirmative action

    The term affirmative action refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and public contracting to educational outreach and health programs ....
     policy to cover discrimination based on sex, resulting in federal agencies and contractors taking active measures to ensure that all women as well as minorities have access to educational and employment opportunities equal to white males.
  • Women’s Liberation groups begin springing up all over the nation.
  • NOW begins petitioning the EEOC to end sex-segregated want ads and adopts a Bill of Rights
    Bill of rights

    A Bill of Rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a nation. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement by the government....
     for Women.
  • Senator Eugene McCarthy
    Eugene McCarthy

    Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the Congress of the United States from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971....
     introduces the Equal Rights Amendment
    Equal Rights Amendment

    The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed Article Five of the United States Constitution to the United States Constitution which was intended to guarantee Women's rights under the law for United States regardless of sex....
     (ERA) in the US Senate.
  • New York Radical Women
    New York Radical Women

    New York Radical Women was an early feminist group that existed from 1967?1969.NYRW was founded in New York City in the fall of 1967, by Shulamith Firestone and Pam Allen....
     is formed by Shulie Firestone and Pam Allen.
  • Anne Koedt
    Anne Koedt

    Anne Koedt is a United States radical feminist and NY based author of The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm, 1970, the classic feminist work on women's sexuality....
     organizes "consciousness raising" groups.
  • The National Welfare Rights Organization
    National Welfare Rights Organization

    The National Welfare Rights Organization was an American activist organization that fought for the right of people, especially women and children, to rely upon government welfare....
     is formed.


From Miss America protests to revolution


1968
  • Robin Morgan
    Robin Morgan

    'Robin Morgan' is a former child actor turned United States radical feminism activist, writer, poet, and editor of Sisterhood is Powerful and Ms....
     leads members of New York Radical Women
    New York Radical Women

    New York Radical Women was an early feminist group that existed from 1967?1969.NYRW was founded in New York City in the fall of 1967, by Shulamith Firestone and Pam Allen....
     to protest
    No More Miss America

    No More Miss America was the title of a brochure distributed in support of a protest that took place outside of the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, NJ in 1968....
     the sexist and racist Miss America Pagent of 1968.
  • The first national women's liberation conference is held in Lake Villa
    Lake Villa

    Lake Villa is the name of some places in the United States:* Lake Villa, Illinois, a village* Lake Villa Township, Lake County, Illinois...
    , a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
  • The National Abortion Rights Action League
    NARAL Pro-Choice America

    NARAL Pro-Choice America is a pro-choice organization in the United States that engages in politics to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion....
     (NARAL) is founded by Betty Friedan and others.
  • Coretta Scott King
    Coretta Scott King

    Coretta Scott King was an United States author and Activism, and widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. Alongside her husband, Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s....
     assumes leadership of the African-American Civil Rights Movement following the death of her husband
    Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Martin Luther King, Jr. was an United States pastor, activist and prominent leader in the African-American African-American Civil Rights Movement ....
    , and expands the movement's platform to include women's rights. Shirley Chisholm is elected to the United States Congress
    United States Congress

    The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
     that same year, the first black congresswoman.
  • The EEOC rules sex-segregated help wanted ads in newspapers illegal, a ruling which is upheld in 1973 by the Supreme Court. Women now are able to apply for higher-paying jobs previously opened only to men.
  • New York feminists bury a dummy of "Traditional Womanhood" at the all-women's Jeanette Rankin Brigade demonstration against the war in Vietnam in Washington, D.C.
  • For the first time, feminists use the slogan "Sisterhood is Powerful."
  • The first public speakout against abortion laws is held in New York City
    New York City

    The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
    .
  • Notes from the First Year, a women's liberation theoretical journal is published by the New York Radical Women.
  • NOW celebrates Mother's Day
    Mother's Day

    Mother's Day was created as a day for each family to honor their mother, celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It complements Father's Day, the celebration honoring fathers....
     with the slogan "Rights, Not Roses".


1969
  • The radical
    Radical feminism

    Radical feminism is a "current" within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a systems theory that organizes society into a complex of interpersonal relationships producing what radical feminists claim is a "male supremacy" that oppresses women....
     organization, Redstockings
    Redstockings

    Redstockings, also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, is a radical feminist group that was most active during the 1970s....
    , organizes.
  • Members of Redstockings disrupt a hearing on abortion laws of the New York State legislature when the panel of witnesses turns out to be fourteen men and a nun
    Nun

    A Nun is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an monasticism who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent....
    . Repeal, not reform, of abortion laws is demanded.
  • Redstockings popularizes slogans such as "Sisterhood is Powerful", and "The Personal is Political" which become buzzwords of the feminist movement.
  • California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
     adopts a "no fault" divorce law which allows couples to divorce by mutual consent. It is the first state to do so; by 1985 every state has adopted a similar law. Legislation is also passed regarding equal division of common property.


Sisterhood is Powerful


1970
  • Kate Millett
    Kate Millett

    Kate Millett is an United States feminism writer and activist. She is best known for her 1970 book Sexual Politics....
     publishes her revolutionary book, Sexual Politics
    Sexual Politics

    Sexual Politics is a classic feminist text written by Kate Millett. Based on her dissertation, it was published in 1970. Millet argues that "sex has a frequently neglected political aspect" and goes on to discuss the role that patriarchy plays in sexual relations, looking especially at the works of D....
    .
  • Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co.
    Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co.

    Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. was a case heard before the United States Court of Appeals in 1970, 421 F.2d 259 . It is an important case in studying the impact of the Bennett Amendment on Chapter VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, helping to define the limitations of Equal pay for equal work for men and women....
    , a U.S. Court of Appeals rules jobs held by men and women must be "substantially equal" but not "identical" to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. It is illegal for employers to change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men.
  • Sisterhood Is Powerful, An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement edited by Robin Morgan
    Robin Morgan

    'Robin Morgan' is a former child actor turned United States radical feminism activist, writer, poet, and editor of Sisterhood is Powerful and Ms....
     is published.
  • The women's health book Our Bodies first published as a newsprint booklet for 35 cents.
  • A Ladies' Home Journal
    Ladies' Home Journal

    Ladies' Home Journal is a magazine which first appeared February 16, 1883 and eventually became one of the leading magazines of the 20th Century, published by the Curtis Publishing Company....
     sit-in exposes the sexism of the "women's magazines".
  • The North American Indian Women's Association is founded.
  • Chicana feminists found Comision Femenil Mexicana Nacional
    Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional

    The Comisi?n Femenil Mexicana Nacional , is a Chicano organization geared towards the political and economic empowerment of Hispanic women, particularly Chicanas, in the United States....
    .
  • Toni Cade publishes The Black Woman.
  • On August 26th, the 50th anniversary of woman suffrage in the U.S., tens of thousands of women across the nation participate in the "Women's Strike for Equality", organized by Betty Friedan, to demand equal rights.
  • Feminist leader Bella Abzug
    Bella Abzug

    Bella Savitsky Abzug was an United States Congresswoman and a leader of the women's movement. She famously said "This woman?s place is in the House—the United States House of Representatives" in her successful 1970 campaign to join that body....
     is elected to Congress, famously declaring "A woman's place is in the House".
  • President Nixon vetoes the Comprehensive Child Development Act, which would have established federally funded childcare centers.
  • AFL-CIO
    AFL-CIO

    The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of Labor unions in the United States in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions , together representing more than 10 million workers....
     meets to discuss the status of women in unions. It endorses the ERA and opposes state protective legislation.
  • The Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church
    American Lutheran Church

    The American Lutheran Church was a Christian Protestant religious denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota....
     allow women to be ordained.
  • National Right to Life Committee
    National Right to Life Committee

    The National Right to Life Committee is the largest right to life/pro-life organization in the United States with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide....
     is established to block the legalization of abortion.


1971
  • Every president has published a proclamation for Women's Equality Day since 1971 when legislation was first introduced in Congress by Bella Abzug. This resolution was passed designating August 26 of each year as Women's Equality Day:


The full text of resolution reads:

Joint Resolution of Congress, 1971 Designating August 26 of each year as Women's Equality Day

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex; and

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have designated August 26, the anniversary date of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, as symbol of the continued fight for equal rights: and

WHEREAS, the women of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that August 26 of each year is designated as "Women's Equality Day," and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote, and that day in 1970, on which a nationwide demonstration for women's rights took place.


Rise of an ERA and Educational and Professional Equality


1972
  • The Equal Rights Amendment
    Equal Rights Amendment

    The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed Article Five of the United States Constitution to the United States Constitution which was intended to guarantee Women's rights under the law for United States regardless of sex....
     is reintroduced into the U.S. Congress and is passed by Congress with few members voting against it; it is then sent to the states for ratification.


The amendment reads:

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

  • President Ford, in support for the Equal Rights Amendment, issued Presidential Proclamation 4383"


"In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law.

Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day."
  • In Eisenstadt v. Baird
    Eisenstadt v. Baird

    Eisenstadt v. Baird, , was an important Supreme Court of the United States case that established the right of unmarried people to possess contraception on the same basis as married couples and, by implication, the right of unmarried couples to engage in potentially procreative sexual intercourse ....
     the Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy includes the right to use contraceptives even if unmarried.
  • Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
    Title IX

    Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, now known as the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in honor of its principal author, but more commonly known simply as Title IX, is a United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall judge on the basis of sex, be denied the be...
    , passed by Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink of Hawaii
    Hawaii

    File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
    , 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." This revolutionary legislation ended sex descrimination in high school
    High school

    High school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides all or part of secondary education. The term originated in Scotland and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop the...
    s and college
    College

    File:Government college for Women Dhoke Kala Khan.JPGCollege is a term most often used today to denote an education institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of collegialitys, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals....
    s.
  • The National Women's Political Caucus
    National Women's Political Caucus

    The National Women's Political Caucus is a national, multi-partisan, grassroots organization in the United States. It is dedicated to increasing women's participation in the political process by recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices....
     is founded by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem
    Gloria Steinem

    Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminism icon, journalism, and social activism and political activism. Rising to national prominence in the 1970s, she became a leading politician of the decade, and one of the most important heads of the Feminist Movement in the United States ....
    , Myrlie Evers
    Myrlie Evers-Williams

    Myrlie Evers-Williams is an United States activist. She was the first full-time chairman of the NAACP and is the former widow of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers....
    , several congresswomen, including Shirley St. Hill Chisholm and Bella Abzug, several heads of national organizations, and others who shared the vision of gender equality
  • Headed and edited by journalist and activist Gloria Steinem
    Gloria Steinem

    Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminism icon, journalism, and social activism and political activism. Rising to national prominence in the 1970s, she became a leading politician of the decade, and one of the most important heads of the Feminist Movement in the United States ....
    , Ms. magazine becomes an independent publication, and is considered the magazine of the feminist movement. (It was originally published in the New Yorker
    New Yorker

    New Yorker may refer to:* A resident of New York state * A resident of New York City * The New Yorker, a magazine* New Yorker , a German clothing company...
    , for which Steinem was a columnist.)
  • With the majority of feminists being pro-choice
    Pro-choice

    Pro-choice describes the politics and ethics view that a woman should have complete control over her fertility and the choice to continue or terminate a pregnancy....
     advocates of the legalization of abortion, pro-life
    Pro-life feminism

    Pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion, based on feminism, simultaneously upholding the rights of women and the rights of their preborn offspring....
     women form the organization Feminists for Life
    Feminists for Life

    Feminists for Life of America is the largest and most visible pro-life feminism organization. Established in 1972 and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence." FFL asserts they continue the tradition of early American feminists...
     to counter them.
  • Shirley Chisholm
    Shirley Chisholm

    Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was a African-United States politician, educator, and author. She was a United States Congress, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983....
     (see "1968") runs for the Democratic Party's
    Democratic Party (United States)

    The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
     nomination for President
    United States presidential election, 1972

    The United States presidential election of 1972 was waged on the issues of radicalism and the Vietnam War. The Democratic nomination was eventually won by George McGovern, who ran an anti-war crusade against incumbent President of the United States Richard Nixon, but was handicapped by his outsider status as well as the scandal and subsequent...
    , the first African-American and second woman
    Woman

    File:Duval La Naissance de Venus.jpgA woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent....
     to run for a major party's nomination. She was the first woman to win primaries in a Presidential election.
  • The first battered women's shelter opens in the U.S., in Urbana, Illinois
    Urbana, Illinois

    Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, Illinois, United States. As of the 2007 population estimates, the population was 39,484....
    , founded by Cheryl Frank and Jacqueline Flenner.
  • New York Radical Feminists
    New York Radical Feminists

    New York Radical Feminists was a radical feminist group co-founded primarily by Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt with the October 3, 1969, Stanton-Anthony Brigade, after they and other brigade members left Redstockings....
     hold a series of speakouts and a conference on rape and women's treatment by the criminal justice system.
  • Feminist Women's Health Center founded in Los Angeles by Carol Downer
    Carol Downer

    Carol Downer is a feminist from the United States. She and Lorraine Rothman were leaders of a group that founded the in Los Angeles in 1971. Downer and Rothman promoted group meetings where the women did self-administered cervix exams and promoted a procedure called menstrual extraction in which the group suctioned out a member's menstrual m...
     and Lorraine Rothman
    Lorraine Rothman

    Lorraine Rothman was a founding member of the feminist Self-Help Clinic movement. In 1971, she invented the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit with Carol Downer, to provide abortion to women before Roe v Wade....
    .


1973
  • After defeating Margaret Court in a tennis
    Tennis

    Tennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber Tennis ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's tennis court....
     match, male chauvinist Bobby Riggs
    Bobby Riggs

    Robert Larimore Riggs was a 1930s?40s tennis player who was the World number one male tennis player rankings or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947....
     declares that men are superior to women, and calls Billie Jean King
    Billie Jean King

    Billie Jean King is a retired tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles....
     to a Battle of the Sexes tennis match, in which King easily defeats Riggs, leading to the celebration of feminists everywhere. The Battle of the Sexes remains the most watched tennis match in the history of the world.
  • Argued by attorney Sarah Weddington
    Sarah Weddington

    'Sarah Ragle Weddington' is a United States Lawyer and lecturer from Texas who gained world-wide fame when she and Linda Coffee represented "Jane Roe" in the landmark Roe v....
     (and earlier, Linda Coffee
    Linda Coffee

    'Linda Nellene Coffee' is an attorney living in Dallas, Texas. Ms. Coffee is best known for representing Norma McCorvey , a pregnant woman who desired an abortion, in the precedent-setting United States Supreme Court case Roe v....
    ) the Supreme Court of the United States
    Supreme Court of the United States

    The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
     rules 7-2 in Roe v. Wade
    Roe v. Wade

    Roe v. Wade, Case citation , is a Supreme Court of the United States case that resulted in a landmark decision regarding abortion. According to the Roe decision, most laws against abortion in the United States violated a United States Constitution to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United Stat...
     that abortion is constitutional in the first trimester of the pregnancy, with states reserving the right to restrict abortion later in the pregnancy.
  • Battered women's shelters open in the United States (in Tucson, Arizona
    Tucson, Arizona

    Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border....
     and St. Paul, Minnesota.
  • The Supreme Court holds that sex-segregated help wanted ads are illegal. (See "1968")
  • Puerto Rican women hold their first conference.
  • In San Francisco, California
    San Francisco, California

    The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of 799,183....
    , Margo St. James
    Margo St. James

    Margo St. James , a self-described sex-positive feminism, founded the organization COYOTE , which advocates decriminalization of prostitution....
     organizes Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE) to improve working conditions of prostitutes.
  • Antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly attacks the Equal Rights Amendment in her newsletter and forms the STOP ERA organization. What once looked like it was on its way to easy ratification now had run into fierce opposition.


1974
  • The Equal Credit Opportunity Act
    Equal Credit Opportunity Act

    The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is a United States law , enacted in 1974, that makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age ; to the fact that all or part of the applicant?s inc...
     prohibits discrimination in consumer credit practices on the basis of sex, race, marital status, religion, national origin, age, or receipt of public assistance.
  • In Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages because that is what they traditionally received under the "going market rate." A wage differential occurring "simply because men would not work at the low rates paid women" is unacceptable.
  • First Lady Betty Ford
    Betty Ford

    Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Bloomer Warren Ford is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and was the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977....
     moves to the front of the feminist movement as she talks candidly about her pro-choice views and feminist stances. A moderate Republican
    Republican Party (United States)

    The Republican Party is one of the two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party . It is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP....
    , Mrs. Ford actively lobbies state legislatures to ratify the ERA, earining the ire of conservative who dubb her "No Lady".
  • Mexican-American Women's National Association is formed as a Latina
    Latina

    Latina is the feminine form of the term Latino.Latina may also refer to:*Province of Latina, a province in Latium , Italy**Latina, Italy, the capital of the province of Latina...
     feminist organization.
  • Over a thousand colleges are now offering women's studies courses (with eighty having full programs) and 230 women's centers on college campuses provide support services for female students.
  • Helen Thomas
    Helen Thomas

    File:Helen Thomas - USNWR.jpgHelen Thomas is an American news service reporter, a Hearst Corporation columnist, and member of the White House Press Corps....
    , after covering Washington for thirty years, is finally named White House reporter.
  • Elaine Noble
    Elaine Noble

    Elaine Noble is an United States former politician. She served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for two terms starting in January 1975....
     becomes the first openly homosexual candidate elected to a state legislature. She was elected in Massachusetts.
  • Coalition of Labor Union Women
    Coalition of Labor Union Women

    The Coalition of Labor Union Women is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of trade union women affiliated with the AFL-CIO.CLUW has four goals:...
     founded.


"Every layer of society"


1975
  • Taylor v. Louisiana
    Taylor v. Louisiana

    'Taylor v. Louisiana', Case citation , is the Supreme Court of the United States case that held women could not be excluded from a venire, or jury pool, on the basis of having to register for jury duty, thus overturning Hoyt v....
     makes it illegal to exclude women from juries.
  • The U.N.
    United Nations

    The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
     sponsors the First International Conference on Women in Mexico City
    Mexico City

    Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
    .
  • For the first time, federal employees' salaries can be garnished for child support and alimony.
  • The National Right to Life PAC organized to stop women from obtaining abortions.
  • Phyllis Schlafly organizes her Eagle Forum
    Eagle Forum

    Eagle Forum is a Conservatism in the United States interest group in the United States founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1967 and is the parent organization that also includes the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Eagle Forum PAC....
     as an alternative to "women's lib". The forum favors support of school prayer
    School prayer

    School prayer in its most common usage refers to state approved prayer by students in state schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, organized prayer may be required, permitted, or proscribed....
    , law and order
    Law and Order

    Law and Order may refer to:*Law and order , a term common in political debate and discussion, generally indicating support of a strict criminal justice system...
    , and a strong national defense. It opposes against busing
    Busing

    Busing may refer to:* Busing , the use of road vehicle designed to carry passengers* Desegregation busing in the United States* John Busing , American football strong safety...
    , federally funded child care, and abortion
    Abortion

    An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death....
    .
  • Tish Sommers, chair of NOW's Older Women Task Force, coins the phrase "displaced homemaker."
  • Susan Brownmiller
    Susan Brownmiller

    Susan Brownmiller is a radical feminism, journalist, and activist. She is best known for her pioneering work on the politics of rape in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape Brownmiller argues that rape had been hitherto defined by men rather than women; and that men use, and all men benefit from the use of, rape as a mea...
    's Against Our Will on the ubiquity of rape is published. She later becomes one of TIME's "Women of the Year" (see below).
  • NOW sponsors "Alice Doesn't" Day, and asks women across the country to go on strike for one day.
  • Joanne Little, who was rape
    Rape

    Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
    d by a guard while in jail
    Jail

    Jail, also spelled gaol, is a place for confinement. Other uses:* Jail , program resources sandbox mechanism* Chroot jail, a command on Unix operating systems...
    , is acquitted of murdering her offender. The case establishes a precedent for killing as self-defense
    Self-defense

    Self-defense is the act of defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. While the term may define any form of personal defense, it is strongly associated with civilian hand-to-hand defense techniques....
     against rape.
  • In New York City
    New York City

    The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
     the first women's bank opens
  • United States Military opens its military academies to women.
  • Time
    Time (magazine)

    Time is a weekly United States newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. A European edition is published from London....
     declares:
    "[F]eminism has transcended the feminist movement. In 1975 the women's drive penetrated every layer of society, matured beyond ideology to a new status of general—and sometimes unconscious—acceptance." The Time Person of the Year award goes to American Women, celebrating the successes of the feminist movement.


1976
  • The first marital rape law is enacted in Nebraska
    Nebraska

    Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
    , making it illegal for a husband to rape his wife.
  • Congresswoman Barbara Charline Jordan
    Barbara Jordan

    Barbara Charline Jordan was an American politician from Texas. She served as a congresswoman in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979....
     of Texas
    Texas

    Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
    , the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress from the former Confederate States of America
    Confederate States of America

    The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven Southern United States U.S. state of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S....
    , who had received widespread recognition as a key member of the House Judiciary Committee during President Nixon's impeachment, delivers the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention
    Democratic National Convention

    The Democratic National Convention is a series of U.S. presidential nominating convention held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party....
    . She is the first black and first woman to address the convention as a keynote speaker, famously declaring that what was different and special about that night was that
    "I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker".
  • Redbook
    Redbook

    Redbook is an United States of America women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation....
    magazine polls its readers about sexual harassment
    Sexual harassment

    Sexual harassment is unwelcome attention of a sexual nature and is a form of illegal and social harassment. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and annoyances to actual sexual abuse or sexual assault....
    . 90% of young women view the situation as serious.
  • A bill that defines a "person" as "a human being" from the moment of fertilization is signed by Louisiana's governor.
  • ERAmerica is launched to promote the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
  • The Organization of Pan Asian American Women
    Organization of Pan Asian American Women

    The Organization of Pan Asian American Women is a public policy organization founded in 1976, which aim to address the concerns of Asian-Pacific American women, and to increase their participation in policy making and leadership....
     forms for women of Asia
    Asia

    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
    n and Pacific American Islander
    Pacific Islander

    Pacific Islander , is a regional geography term to describe the Austronesian people inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia....
     descent.
  • Supreme Court decision agrees with General Electric
    General Electric

    The General Electric Company, or GE is a multinational corporation United States technology and Service s conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York....
     that the company's failure to cover pregnancy-related disability is not discriminatory.
  • Both the House and Senate pass the Hyde Amendment
    Hyde Amendment

    The Hyde Amendment is a provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, first passed by the United States Congress in 1976. It was so named because its chief sponsor was Republican Party Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois....
    , which prohibits the use of federal Medicaid
    Medicaid

    Medicaid is the United States American health care system program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states....
     money for abortions.
  • Many professional and women's organizations decide to boycott those states that have not passed the ERA and to hold their conferences elsewhere; the pressure is on for states to ratify the amendment before the 1979 deadline..


1977
  • New First Lady
    First Lady of the United States

    First Lady of the United States is the unofficial title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the President of the United States, the title is sometimes taken to apply only to the wife of a sitting President....
     Rosalynn Smith Carter
    Rosalynn Carter

    Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter , commonly known as Rosalynn Carter, is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981....
     takes an active role in government, heading policy proposals and sitting in on cabinet meetings, as more women serve in White House staff positions and in the U.S. Cabinet than ever before.
  • The First National Women's Conference is held in Houston, Texas
    Houston, Texas

    Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
    . Twenty-thousand representatives, women from all states, gather to pass a far-reaching National Plan of Action.
  • The National Association of Cuban-American Women formed.
  • The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is established.
  • Eleanor Smeal
    Eleanor Smeal

    Eleanor Smeal is a feminist activist, political analyst, lobbyist, and grassroots organizer. Smeal is also the president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as president of the National Organization for Women twice....
    , president of NOW, demands that homemakers should have their own Social Security
    Social security

    Social security primarily refers to a social insurance program providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others....
     accounts.
  • The American Civil Liberties Union
    American Civil Liberties Union

    The American Civil Liberties Union consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, a 501 organization which focuses on litigation and communication efforts, and the American Civil Liberties Union, a 501 organization which focuses on legislative lobbying....
     asks the Rhode Island Supreme Court
    Rhode Island Supreme Court

    The Rhode Island Supreme Court, founded in 1747, is the Supreme court in the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices....
     to allow women to use their own names, rather than that of their husbands.
  • The first women pilots of the United States Air Force
    United States Air Force

    The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Military of the United States and one of the uniformed services of the United States....
     graduate.


1978
  • For the first time in the history of the United States, more women than men enter college.
  • The Oregon v. Rideout decision leads to many states allowing prosecution for marital and cohabitation rape.
  • The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans employment discrimination against pregnant women, stating a woman cannot be fired or denied a job or a promotion because she is or may become pregnant, nor can she be forced to take a pregnancy leave if she is willing and able to work.
  • ERA's deadline arrives with the ERA still three state short of ratification; Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman
    Elizabeth Holtzman

    Elizabeth Holtzman is a former United States Democratic Party politician, pioneer woman officeholder, four term U.S. Representative , two term District Attorney of Kings County , and New York City Comptroller ...
     leads a successful bill to extend the ERA's deadline to 1982.


The 1980s
1980s

The 1980s or the Eighties or the 80s or the years between the 70s and the 90s, was the decade that ran from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989....
 and the decline of the second-wave


1980
  • For the first time since the passage of the ERA, an anti-ERA President
    Ronald Reagan

    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
     is elected.


1981
  • President Carter
    Jimmy Carter

    James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
     proclaims the first "National Women's History Week," incorporating March 8, International Women's Day
    International Women's Day

    International Women's Day is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women....
    .
  • Sandra Day O'Connor
    Sandra Day O'Connor

    Sandra Day O'Connor is an United States jurist and the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States....
     becomes the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court
    Supreme court

    A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some jurisdictions the highest court within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court....
    ; she is unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate
    United States Senate

    The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
    .
  • Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick
    Jeane Kirkpatrick

    Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an United States Ambassadors from the United States and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign relations of the United States adviser in his United States presidential election, 1980 and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democratic Party -turned-Republican Party was nominated as the U...
     becomes the first female United States Ambassador to the United Nations
    United States Ambassador to the United Nations

    The United States Ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. The position is more formally known as the "Representative of the United States to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Representative of the United States of America in...
    .


1982
  • The ERA fails to be ratified, with only three more states needed to ratify it; President Reagan establishes a commission to find ways to ensure equality without an ERA.


Post-feminism in the 1980s

  • The extreme and forceful activism of the '60s and '70s comes to a hault, most people believing that all the major goals of the feminist movement have been met, and thanks to laws and court decisions equality has been guaranteed without an ERA; however, twenty-two states add Equal Rights Amendments to their state constitutions and the ERA campaigan continues to this day; most supporters hold that the ERA can still be added to the Constitution if ratified by three remaining states.
  • New opportunities arise for females as a generation of women become lawyer
    Lawyer

    A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
    s, corporate executives, doctors
    Physician

    A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
    , professor
    Professor

    The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
    s, scientists
    Science

    In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
    , politician
    Politician

    A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed....
    s, members of the military, and astronaut
    Astronaut

    An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
    s. In post-feminist America many ambitious professional women enter Yuppie
    Yuppie

    The term yuppie refers to an 1980s and early 1990s term for financially secure, upper-middle class young people in their 20s and early 30s....
     culture.
  • In politics the U.S. saw not only its first female UN Ambassador and Supreme Court Justice, but its first female Transportation Secretary
    United States Secretary of Transportation

    The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The Secretary is a member of the President of the United States United States Cabinet....
     and U.S. Coast Guard Chief
    United States Coast Guard

    The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the Military of the United States and one of seven Uniformed services of the United States. In addition to being a military branch at all times, it is unique among the armed forces in that it is also a Admiralty law agency and a Federal government of the United States regulatory agency....
    -Elizabeth Hanford Dole
    Elizabeth Dole

    Mary Elizabeth Hanford "Liddy" Dole is an United States politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush president of the United States administrations....
     and, in 1984, the first woman nominated
    United States presidential election, 1984

    The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President of the United States Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President of the United States Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate....
     for Vice President of the United States
    Vice President of the United States

    The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office in the United States of America created by the Constitution of the United States....
    , Democratic Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro
    Geraldine Ferraro

    Geraldine Anne Ferraro is an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives....
     of New York. Also, a handful of women served the Reagan and Bush
    George H. W. Bush

    George Herbert Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Bush held a variety of political positions prior to his presidency, including Vice President of the United States in the administration of Ronald Reagan and Director of Central Intelligence under Gerald R....
     cabinets and in the U.S. Congress.


Education


Title IX


______________

Coeducation

One debate which developed in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 during this time period revolved around the question of coeducation
Coeducation

Mixed-sex education , is the integrated education of males and females in the same institution. The opposite situation is described as single-sex education....
. Most men's colleges in the United States
Men's colleges in the United States

Men's colleges in the United States are primarily undergraduate, Bachelor's degree-granting institutions that admit men exclusively. The most noted men's colleges are traditional liberal arts colleges, though the majority are institutions of learning for those preparing for religious vocations....
 adopted coeducation, often by merging with women's colleges
Women's colleges in the United States

Women's colleges in the United States are higher education in the United States that exclude or limit males from admission. They are often Liberal arts colleges in the United States....
. In addition, some women's colleges adopted coeducation, while others maintained a single-sex student body.

Seven Sisters Colleges
Two of the Seven Sister colleges
Seven Sisters (colleges)

The Seven Sisters are seven Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Northeastern United States that are historically Women's colleges in the United States....
 made transitions during and after the 1960s. The first, Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College

Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University....
, merged with Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
. Beginning in 1963, students at Radcliffe received Harvard diplomas signed by the presidents of Radcliffe and Harvard and joint commencement exercises began in 1970. The same year, several Harvard and Radcliffe dormitories began swapping students experimentally and in 1972 full co-residence was instituted. The departments of athletics
College athletics

College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system....
 of both schools merged shortly thereafter. In 1977, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which put undergraduate women entirely in Harvard College. In 1999 Radcliffe College was dissolved and Harvard University assumed full responsibility over the affairs of female undergraduates. Radcliffe is now the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Women's Studies
Women's studies

Women's studies is an interdisciplinary List of academic disciplines devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender identity, and politics....
 at Harvard University. The second, Vassar College
Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational, Liberal arts colleges in the United States situated in the town of Poughkeepsie , New York, New York, United States....
, declined an offer to merge with Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
 and instead became coeducational in 1969.

The remaining Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (colleges)

The Seven Sisters are seven Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Northeastern United States that are historically Women's colleges in the United States....
 decided against coeducation. Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College is a highly selective Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Massachusetts....
 engaged in a lengthy debate under the presidency of David Truman
David Truman

David Bicknell Truman was an American academic who served as the 15th president of Mount Holyoke College from 1969-1978. He is also known for his role as a Columbia University administrator during the Columbia University protests of 1968....
 over the issue of coeducation. On 6 November 1971, "after reviewing an exhaustive study on coeducation, the board of trustees decided unanimously that Mount Holyoke should remain a women's college, and a group of faculty was charged with recommending curricular changes that would support the decision." Smith College
Smith College

Smith College is a Private university, Independent school Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Northampton, Massachusetts....
 also made a similar decision in 1971. In 1969, Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College

'Bryn Mawr College' is a highly selective Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
 and Haverford College
Haverford College

Haverford College is a highly selective, private university, coeducational Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia....
 (then all male) developed a system of sharing residential colleges. When Haverford became coeducational in 1980, Bryn Mawr discussed the possibly of coeducation as well, but decided against it. In 1983, Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
 began admitting women after a decade of failed negotiations with Barnard College
Barnard College

Barnard College is a Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States founded in 1889. Barnard is affiliated with Columbia University, but Barnard maintains an independent campus in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City, and separate faculty, administrati...
 for a merger along the lines of Harvard and Radcliffe (Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia since 1900, but it continues to be independently governed). Wellesley College also decided against coeducation during this time.

Mississippi University for Women
In 1982, in a 5–4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
 ruled in
Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan
Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan

Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, Case citation , is a five to four ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court ruled that Mississippi University for Women's single sex admissions policy violated the Fourteenth amendment's equal protection clause....
that Mississippi University for Women
Mississippi University for Women

Mississippi University for Women, also known as MUW or simply the "W" is a four-year coeducational public university located in Columbus, Mississippi, Mississippi....
 would be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the post-American Civil War Reconstruction Amendments that was first intended to secure the rights of former Slavery in the United States....
's Equal Protection Clause
Equal Protection Clause

The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ......
 if it denied admission to its nursing program on the basis of gender. Mississippi University for Women, the first public or government institution
Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private university....
 for women in the United States
Women's colleges in the United States

Women's colleges in the United States are higher education in the United States that exclude or limit males from admission. They are often Liberal arts colleges in the United States....
, changed its admissions policies and became coeducational after the ruling.

In what was her first opinion written for the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
, Justice O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an United States jurist and the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States....
 stated, "In limited circumstances, a gender-based classification favoring one sex can be justified if it intentionally and directly assists members of the sex that is disproportionately burdened." She went on to point out that there are a disproportionate number of women who are nurses, and that denying admission to men "lends credibility to the old view that women, not men, should become nurses, and makes the assumption that nursing is a field for women a self-fulfilling prophecy."

In the dissenting opinions, Justices Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger
Warren E. Burger

Warren Earl Burger was Chief Justice of the United States of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger was a conservative and considered a strict constructionist, under his tenure, the United States Supreme Court delivered a variety of transformative decisions on abortion, capital punishment in the United States, Establishment cla...
, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and William H. Rehnquist suggested that the result of this ruling would be the elimination of publicly supported single-sex educational opportunities. This suggestion has proven to be accurate as there are no public women's colleges in the United States today and as a result of United States v. Virginia
United States v. Virginia

United States v. Virginia, , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Virginia Military Institute's long-standing Men's college in a 7-1 decision....
, the last all-male public university in the United States, Virginia Military Institute, was required to admit women. The ruling did not require the university to change its name to reflect its coeducational status
Coeducation

Mixed-sex education , is the integrated education of males and females in the same institution. The opposite situation is described as single-sex education....
 and it continues a tradition of academic and leadership development for women by providing liberal arts and professional education to women and men.

Mills College
On May 3, 1990, the Trustees of Mills College
Mills College

Mills College is an independent Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men....
 announced that they had voted to admit male students. This decision led to a two-week student and staff strike
Strike action

Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform labour . A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances....
, accompanied by numerous displays of non-violent
Nonviolence

Nonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of physical violence. As such, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression and armed struggle against it....
 protests by the students. At one point, nearly 300 students blockaded the administrative offices and boycotted classes. On May 18, the Trustees met again to reconsider the decision, leading finally to a reversal of the vote.

Other colleges
Pembroke College
Pembroke College (Brown University)

Pembroke College was the coordinate Women's colleges in the United States for Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1891 and closed in 1971....
 merged with Brown University
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
. Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence is a Private school, Independent school, Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the United States. It is located in southern Westchester County, New York, New York, in the city of Yonkers, New York, north of New York, New York....
 declined an offer to merge with Princeton University
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
, becoming coeducational in 1969. Connecticut College
Connecticut College

Connecticut College is a highly selective coeducational private Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in New London, Connecticut. It is located on the Thames River , on which the College's crew and sailing teams practice....
 also adopted coeducation during the late 1960s.

Careers

While women's education was improving, career prospects for women were also widening thanks to such organisations as ALSSA (Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses Association) who fought a long battle to get equal rights in employment. Airline stewardesses were fired once they were married; since the average age of a woman getting married was 20, this did not provide a very long career for air stewardesses. Dusty Roads and Nancy Collins campaigned for age restrictions on air stewardesses to be removed, and this coincidentally brought about the battle for equal rights in the work place.

Media

Media representations of women have been much discussed by advocates of second-wave feminism. Some have argued that popular magazines during the 1960s represented a repressive force, imposing damaging images on vulnerable, impressionable American women. Many magazines defined the role of a housewife as exciting and creative and often featured articles on baking. Magazines also had positive influences on the movement, and published articles that encouraged women to live a fulfilled life. Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest

File:Readers Digest00.jpgReader's Digest is a monthly general-interest family magazine co-founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace....
, Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal

Ladies' Home Journal is a magazine which first appeared February 16, 1883 and eventually became one of the leading magazines of the 20th Century, published by the Curtis Publishing Company....
, Woman's Home Companion
Woman's Home Companion

Woman's Home Companion was an United States monthly publication, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s....
, and Life Magazine, are just some of the magazines that influenced women during the 1960’s. There were also a few African American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 magazines, such as Coronet
Coronet (magazine)

Coronet Magazine was a general interest digest published from October 13, 1936 to March 1971 and ran for 299 issues. The magazine was owned by Esquire and published by David A....
, which featured articles on strong black women who balanced a career and a family.

Success

It is argued by many that second-wave feminism saw a transformation of consciousness and changed how most American women saw themselves and the world around them. Through organizations such as NOW
National Organization for Women

The National Organization for Women is the largest United States feminist organization. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 U.S....
, WEAL and PCSW, discrimination in the work place on the basis of sex was made illegal. The impact of media allowed the spread of feminist ideals through articles, newspapers, television and books, and this made it acceptable to talk about women's issues.

See also

  • First-wave feminism
    First-wave feminism

    First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States....
  • Third-wave feminism
    Third-wave feminism

    Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of Feminism activity and study beginning in the early 1990s.The movement arose as a response to perceived possible failures and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism of Circa 1960s through the 1980s....
  • Feminist Sex Wars
    Feminist Sex Wars

    The Feminist Sex Wars, Lesbian Sex Wars, or simply the Sex Wars or Porn Wars, were the acrimonious debates within the feminist movement and lesbian community in the late 1970s through the 1980s around the issues of feminist strategies regarding sexuality, sexual representation, pornography, sadomasochism, the role of transwo...
  • History of feminism
    History of feminism

    The history of feminism is the history of feminist movements and their efforts to overturn gender inequality. Feminist scholars have divided feminism's history into three "waves"....
  • Pro-life feminism
    Pro-life feminism

    Pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion, based on feminism, simultaneously upholding the rights of women and the rights of their preborn offspring....


External links

  • Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
  • Press, Andrea L. Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
  • ——— and Tery Strathman. "Work, Family, and Social Class in Television Images of Women: Prime-Time Television and the Construction of Postfeminism." Women and Language, 1993 Fall, 16:2, 7–15.
  • Roth, Benita. Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in America's Second Wave. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • William, Chafe, The American Woman: Her Changing Social Economic, and Political Roles, 1920–1970, Oxford University 1972
  • M. Carden, The New Feminist Movement, New York 1974
  • F. Davis, Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America since 1960