1960’s Female Revolution Essay

Women's Rights in America in the 1960s

Women's rights were practically nonexistent in America in 1960, from the home to the job in both public and private institutions.

Traditional Roles and Limitations

The traditional path for a woman was to marry in her early 20s, have children, and spend the rest of her time caring for her home and her family. Most women didn't have big goals because their life was limited and because society still viewed women as someone's caretaker. In the 1960s, the majority of the women were other people’s wives, and they used to bear a full load of children care and housekeeping thus they used to spend about 55 hours a week on domestic errands. “Head and master laws” were the laws that women used to comply with as a way of showing submissiveness to their husbands, and their husbands controlled no legal rights to any of their spouse’s property or earnings and their earning and properties. In the situation where the marriage has become toxic, women had no power to seek for divorce thus it was really difficult for women to seek legal aid regarding divorce, but men could have sought for divorce even in the situation where a woman or wife had not reasonable mistake that could have led to the dissolution of the marriage.

Limitations in Employment

Less than 40% of the women in entire America who worked in 1960 were mostly limited to jobs as secretaries, teachers and nurses. Women were not welcome in best professional programs as one of the medical school dean declared, consequently, in 1960 women accounted for only 6% of America doctors, 3% of lawyers and not more than 1% of engineers. The salaries and wages for the working women were slightly lower than those of men even if they had the same academic qualification and work experience due to the reason that many employers believed that women can get pregnant while working and eventually quit working unlike men who were there to work as long as their services are still needed by the employer.

Betty Friedan and "The Feminine Mystique"

In 1962, due to the continued oppression of women in society, Betty Friedan published her book “The Feminine Mystique”, a book which enlightened many women who were being considered as household keepers and children caregivers. Freidan calls upon all women to seek the fulfilment of works outside homes, she spoke to a large number of women who were educated and eventually her work impacted on the feminism movement.

Objectives, Strategies, Challenges, and Achievement of the Female Revolution

The goals for feminism movement in the 1960s and 1970 was originally to concentrate on abolishing workplace inequality such as the limited access to the better salaries and jobs via the anti-discrimination laws. In 1964, a representative from Virginia Howard Smith proposed for the addition of prohibition of gender discrimination in the Civil Rights Act, and surprisingly such proposal was responded by laughter from the entire congressmen, but due to the leadership of Michigan representative Martha Griffins, the law was passed with the amendment intact. But unfortunately the law development on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would not have enforced the laws on the protection of female employees, and thus the feminist group went ahead and formed an organization that was responsible for fighting for gender inequality in a court of law and legislatures. In 1966 during summer, a group of feminist launched a National Congress of women, which proceeded to lobby the Congress for pro-equality laws and helped women seeking the legal support and they fight discrimination at the workplace in courts of law. Betty Friedan had no intention to dismantle the existing systems during that period, but her strategies were to open the system to give a chance to women in the society to participate in public and political levels. The more radical women liberation was determined to overthrow the social system where the husband or the father was given all the powers over women or wives including control over women's private lives. Equality in the society had oppressed women on matters such as relationships, birth control and abortion, sexuality, body image and clothing, responsibilities in marriage, childcare and housework. Thus continuous pressure from the feminist groups sought women's equality on personal and political levels.

Feminist Movement Structure and Challenges

The feminist movement had a goal to seek leadership equality thus they structured their group into a flawless single figure. The group had a hierarchy which was led by the Betty Friedan, and all the activities were done systematically and consistently because everything was supposed to be done collectively and experimentally. The group was divided between upper-class and lower-class, young and older women, and conservative and radical. However, the group started facing challenges due to the division which started when the young women distrusted the older women and also the fact that Betty Friedan insinuated that the young feminist leader Gloria Steinem was a snitch who had a connection with the CIA and FBI. The differences among the group members in combination with the reluctance of the group from selecting its official leaders for the movement, gave the media a loophole to anoint its “feminist leaders” leading to represent inside the movement. The leadership vacuum which was left while the divisions in the group were conflicting was taken by some of the women who promoted themselves as leaders resulting in attacks from the women who believed that all the group members were supposed to be enjoying the same influence as far as every member status was concerned. However, women like Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem attracted media attention due to their popular writing and their appealing images.

Civic Environment and Success of the Feminist Movement

The civic environment contributed to the success of the feminist movement since the group was propelled by the favorable convergence of the societal and economic changes. The movement started the right time since it was the time when the American economy was booming after the decline which was experienced during World War II. Thus the economy was outpacing the accessible workforce, making it essential for women to be considered to fill the new job opportunities in both government and private institutions. In the 1960s, two-thirds of all the new job opportunities were taken by women and as such, the country had to accept the idea of women working outside homes. However, the salaries for men and women were still varying, thus causing a difference in lifestyle between men and women making women unsatisfied even after being given more new job opportunities by government and private institutions. Many of the women who were relegated to simple jobs such as clerical and administrative work were the victims of low salaries. But many of the women considered applying for better courses such as medical and engineering due to the access to the “Pill”. The pill was a reliable oral contraception which guaranteed women and employers uninterrupted careers since women who use the pill could have been able to plan their families efficiently; hence the issues in relation to the unexpected pregnancies among the working women were reduced. In the 1970s, many women had applied for medical, engineering, and law courses in various schools and therefore, it is clear that the pill made the sexual evolution possible in America which allowed premarital sex to men but forbidden the same act to women.

Inspiration from Civil Rights and Anti-War Movements

Civil rights movement inspired the feminist leaders, through which many women had acquired civic organizing experience simultaneously the black women played a major role in Civil Rights Movement, precisely via organizations, though they were shut out of the leadership roles. During the same period, anti-war movements were formed by radicals due to the reason that American militaries were sent to fight in Vietnam where men were believed to be creating war and women cry due to the killing of their family member particularly the women and children in Vietnam. Unfortunately, women’s plea was not heard even after the schoolgirls try to express their issue at one of the New Politics meetings which the chairman said "Cool down, little girl. We have more important things to do here than talk about women's problems." Consequently, the group of women break up from the movement that marginalized women in order to establish their movement. On the other hand, the Federal Bureau of Investigation considered the movement of the women as one of the parts of the enemy, and a challenge to American Values and potentially violent in connection to other extremist movements in America. Therefore, FBI paid many women to snitch and destruct the women's movement through causing conflicts among the group members which could have eventually intensified paranoia and dilute the trust among the activists, but the tactic used by the FBI did not alter the goals and objectives of the movement as it kept on fighting for equal rights.

Methods Used by the Women's Movement

The women's movement managed to attain an audience and pass the message as per the initial plans of the movement. The movement applied various means to strive for equality: lobbying Congress to amend the laws, publicizing the problems such as domestic violence and rape via the media and reaching out to the common women as a way of widening the movement and raising their awareness of how feminism could aid them. The consciousness-raising groups were used by the movement because it was the most effective way to reach the small groups in the local communities across many parts of America. The small groups led to the explosion of several topics such as education, family life, work, and sex from the personal points of view. As the small groups used to share their stories, they tend to understand themselves in connection to the society that does not value women as for how it respects and values men. Thus they established their commonalities and developed a great solidarity. During the same time, the movement held its campaign for the legalization of abortion and in the course of campaigning, the activists testified in the state legislature and many women confessed on how they used to abort pregnancies using illegal procedures and explain the reasons behind engaging in illegal abortions. The "speak out" brought abortion to the light out of the closets and after women admitting to such serious activities, the public realized that even though abortion was illegal, many women were still having abortions anyway. Many people were touched by the confessions made by women. The issue in relation to abortions led to the new discussion about rape due to the reason that most abortions were done due to pregnancies that women get after encountering rape from unknown people. The activists demanded the police department and hospitals to treat rape victims with much sensitivity.

Campaign Against Sexual Harassment

The activists also campaigned against sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be defined as the unwelcomed sexual advancement, request for sexual favors, and physical or verbal conduct of sexual nature. Sexual harassment is common in workplaces and public places. The activists claimed that in workplaces women, where some of the employees and management persons always ask for sexual favors in exchange for the promotions and job opportunities and concerning the public sexual harassment, the activists claimed that women are sexually harassed through unrequested touch and verbal sexual abuses from the immoral men in society. The campaign made by activists contributed to the consideration from the legal authorities and eventually led to the legal definition of sexual harassment as a violation of women's rights, and they also redefined the spousal abuse as a crime and not a traditional act. Furthermore, the movement developed a women-centered health system, rather than an existing system which was always insensitive to the women's needs in society. The women activists started training women regarding the needs that are supposed to be met by the society; for example, the activist train women at their homes, churches, daycares, publishing books such as Our Bodies, Ourselves and setting up women clinics where women could have been offered guidance and awareness in relation to women's rights. The movement managed to produce several journals in the local communities countrywide. The journals were produced mainly for group members. After a while, the two group leaders Gloria Steinem published a magazine in 1971 and widened the audience in general to the public by ensuring the magazine was available countrywide. The magazine by Gloria Steinem was enlightening the society on matters in connection to challenges common women face in society, the inspirational stories that can help in inspiring women who were going through difficulties and included the grassroots activists' efforts countrywide. The group also used class-action lawsuits, protests, complaints, and hearings to bring legal changes. In the late 1970s, the group had achieved tangible, far-reaching gains, which included the illegalization of the gender discrimination in education particularly in colleges' sports and acquiring the financial credits, the banning of the marginalization of women at workplaces due to pregnancies. Legalization of abortions, freedom of family planning through birth control strategies, and the establishment of the system that helps in aiding irreconcilable differences as based on the divorce and the equal share of the family properties. The members of the group were feeling that they were making significant success as far as the key objectives and goals of the group were concerned in America.

Challenges and Opposition to the Feminist Movement

In August 1970, women organized nationwide protests, sit-ins, and marches captured the optimistic spirit. But unfortunately, the purpose of the protests did not succeed since the Equal Rights Amendment was failed, but later in 1972, the Congress was held, and the proposal which had been made by the women activists was passed swiftly, and 30 states ratified and by the end of 1973, it was still not able to gain the 8 additional approvals needed by the deadline which was 1982. Initially, there wide broadcast supporters from the public for the Equal Rights Amendment by the difference of at least two to one according to the theory but in practice the public was still characterized by the preservative on matters relating to the roles of men and women and the serious backlash contrary to the amendments which were needed by the feminist there was conflict about the gay rights and abortion rights as it was led by the newly ascended movement of conservatives especially the Christian right wing which was totally against the gay relationships. Furthermore, women's movements did not communicate the advantages of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) before the moment it managed to be passed by the Congress. Many of the inequalities in the nation had already been addressed. Thus it was difficult for the public to find the positive impacts of the amendment, on the other side, it portrayed an unclear picture of the adverse effects the Equal Rights Amendment could have on the nation. Destruction of American society foundation particularly the family and the denouncement of a hidden agenda of ERA, use of taxpayers' money for abortions and the whole gay rights are some of the plots which were made by the opponents of ERA which included Phyllis Schlafly who she claimed the proposal made by the women's Movement was disrespecting the United States Christian tradition. As the ERA failed and the opposition against feminism continued, and the women in society kept on facing difficulties since their proposal was not ratified. The women movement group in America tried to extend their outreach to abroad by traveling to Vietnam where they united with the Vietnam women to form a sisterly and anti-war solidarity. Despite the struggle the feminists had in fighting for equality in society some of the women are still seeing each other the way men who demean do thus Betty Freidan argue that it the women will not change how they demean themselves then there is a possibility that their daughters will grow up with similar possibilities as their sons.

Conclusion

Women's movements played important roles in fighting for equality in America since from the 1960s there has been continuous progress as far as their goals and objectives are concerned. Currently, women in society enjoy all basic human and civil rights just like men. Leadership nowadays is open to every candidate regardless of their gender; hence it signifies the fruits of the liberation movements which were established back in the 1960s. The amendments made to the America Constitution as a result of the pressure from women movement groups contributed to the gradual achievement of the mission and vision of the feminist. Despite the achievement of the majority of the objectives, it is advisable for the feminist and all women to keep empowering women on matters such as political leadership considering that female presidents have ever led most countries.

Bibliography

Baxandall, Rosalyn and Linda Gordon, eds. Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

Boggs, Grace Lee, and Scott Kurashige. The next American revolution: Sustainable activism for the twenty-first century. Univ of California Press, 2012.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton & Company, 1963.

Ryan, Barbara. Feminism and the women's movement: Dynamics of change in social movement ideology and activism. Routledge, 2013.