Women’s Movement
Betty Friedan
Gloria Steinem
Origins of Women’s Movement


Dual Sources:
• Professionals Focusing on Career Issues
• Young Activists from Civil Rights & New Left
Movements
Economic Context: Factors in Growing
Participation in Labor Force
• Demand for Service Workers
• Early Marriage & Greater Longevity
• Impact of Birth Control
• Persistence of Inequality & Discrimination
Labor Force Participation Rates of Men and
Women, 25-44 Years Old, 1890-2000
Early Development of Movement

JFK’s Commission on Status of Women (1961)

Equal Pay Act (1963): Alternative to ERA



Publication of Friedan’s Feminine Mystique
(1963)
Civil Rights Act (1964): Title VII
Formation of NOW (1966): ERA, Day Care,
Abortion Rights
Evolution of Women’s Movement


Period of Ascendancy, 1967-1973
• Gender & Affirmative Action (1967)
• Congressional Passage of ERA (1972)
• Roe v. Wade (1973)
Emergence of Women’s Liberation Movement
out of New Left (SDS): Radical v. Liberal
Feminism
Legacies of Civil Rights & Women’s
Movements Compared



Changes in Political Status
• Representation in Government
• Voting Patterns: Increasing Polarization of
Electorate by Race & Gender
Changes in Economic Opportunities
• Improved Situation for Blacks & Women
• Persistence of Inequality & Discrimination
Socio-Cultural Changes in Family
Ratio of Marriages to Divorces, 1940-2000
(Rate per 1000 population)
14
12
10
8
Marriages
Divorces
6
4
2
0
1940
1960
1980
1985
2000
Other Legacies from 60s



Foreign Policy: Vietnam Syndrome
• Hesitancy to Repeat Vietnam-style Military
Intervention (SE Asia, Angola, Nicaragua)
• Formulation of “Powell Doctrine”
Economic: Stagflation of the 70s
• Economic Impact of Vietnam
• Oil Inflation after 1969: Role of OPEC
Domestic Politics: Conservative Revival
• Backlash Against Movements of 60s
• Fracturing of Democratic Party
Eleanor Roosevelt & Esther Peterson
Martha Griffiths & Margaret Chase Smith
Text of ERA



Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power
to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
Section 3. This article shall take effect 2 years
after the date of ratification.'
Number of Black Medical School Graduates
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1950
1998
Women & Blacks in Congress (House & Senate)
120
100
80
1960
2015
60
40
20
0
Women
Blacks