Voices of Protest

Chapter 19.1

Demonstration for Equal Rights Amendment

A Woman’s Place

Traditional wedding couple: she could look forward to fifty years of baking cookies

What are the origins of the Women’s Movement?

• Outgrowth of civil rights movement: women built on it

– Saw themselves as treated like second class citizens

– Expected to make sandwiches, type, stay at home

• Betty Friedan

– “The Feminine Mystique”

– “Is this It?”

Above: traditional family supper; below: Betty Friedan poses

How did reproductive rights change in the 60s and 70s?

• The Pill

– FDA approved sale in 1960

– Women became more health conscious

– Some felt greater freedom

• Pregnant women were usually fired from their jobs

• Roe v. Wade (1973) legalized 1st trimester abortion

Above: The Pill (month’s supply); below: anti-abortion protests

Describe NOW and its goals:• NOW- National Organization of

Women• Goals was full equality for women

– Constitutional amendment (ERA)

– Maternity leave– Better day care centers– Equal/ non-segregated

education– Equal job opportunities– Abortion rights

• 270 thousand members by 1990

Above: NOW logo; below: NOW parade

Describe the radical feminists:• Younger, smaller

groups and more ‘dramatic’ than NOW

• Ridiculed the 1968 Miss America pageant by crowning sheep

• Threw girdles, bras, curlers, and other symbols of “feminine enslavement” into the freedom trashcan

Above: 1960s Miss America; below: feminist protestors

Radical Feminists

Capture from clip on radical feminists

Gloria Steinem Presentation

A young woman (not Gloria) serves drinks in a Playboy bunny suit

Describe the successes of the Women’s Liberation movement in the 1970s:

• Gloria Steinem & Ms. Magazine– Wrote about issues Cosmo and Good

Housekeeping avoided– Popularized “Ms.” instead of Miss or

Mrs. • Women’s Studies appeared in

universities (you could major in it)• By 1980:

– 51% of undergrads were female– 30% of doctorate degrees female

Above: A Playboy bunny serves drinks

Phyllis Schlafly Presentation

Schlafly gives an anti-feminist speech

Who was Phyllis Schlafly?• Conservative Anti-feminist• Lawyer and author• The Power of the Positive Woman

(1977)– Stated that women primary duty

uphold traditional values• Church, family, country

• Argued that feminists did not represent all women

• Led STOP ERA movement– Said it would lead to unisex

bathrooms, women in combat, and the destruction of the traditional family

Above and below: Phyllis Schlafly

How did Congress and the Courts react to the Feminist Movement?

• Affirmative Action Plan (1971)– Forced Businesses working with

US Gov to have a certain percentage of females

• Education Amendments Act (1972)– Outlawed sexual discrimination in

education• Forced schools to change

classes – cooking no longer limited to

girls, shop to boys• US military opened up academies of

Annapolis and West Point to female cadets

Above: home economics in the 1950s

Below:

Describe the ERA and the fight for its ratification:

Photo of an ERA rally in this century (web address on banner, reference to 9-11 on sign)

Describe the ERA and the fight for its ratification:

• “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

• Amendment overwhelmingly approved by Congress• In order for the Amendment to be added to the

Constitution, 38 States needed to ratify it (3/4 of states).• 30 did by 1973• Conservatives fought vigorously against the Amendment

– Fear that it would change social and family roles

• By the 1982 deadline, NOW’s fight for the amendment died, and Congress did not extend the deadline.

How did the Feminist movement affect social and gender relationships?

• Marriage postponed

– Women entered college to prepare for careers

• Divorce rate climbed

– More socially acceptable to leave unsatisfying marriage

• Socially acceptable behavior uncertain

– What was considered gentlemanly behavior changed

• Should a man hold the door for a lady or is that being a chauvinist?

Below: cartoon makes the serious point that chivalry made more sense when tasks were dangerous and physically demanding

What were the results of the Feminist Movement?

• More women in the workplace• Ms. Became title in business

– Took marital status out of workplace• Two-career family became norm• Women continued to rise in status

– Sandra Day O'Connor (1st female justice in Supreme Court in 1981)

– Geraldine Ferraro (Democratic VP candidate in 1984)

– Sally Ride (1st female in space in 1983)

– Hillary Rodham Clinton!!!

Below: Gloria Steinem on 30th anniversary cover of the magazine she founded