The Women’s Movement

Women in the Workplace

• By 1960, vast gender inequality in wages & leadership positions

• Airline stewardesses file lawsuits against airlines for sex discrimination

• *Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC, 1965) refused to enforce the Civil Rights Act

NOW and Weeks v. Southern Bell

• *Frustration over lack of progress leads to formation of NOW (National Organization for Women) in 1966 to enforce legal changes

• Lorena Weeks & Southern Bell (1966)

Women’s Liberation• Increasing radicalism &

influence from other movements

• Humorous, flamboyant strategies to expose sexism• *Miss America pageant

protest (1968)• Whistle-in on Wall Street• *Occupation of Ladies’

Home Journal magazine offices (1970)

*Women’s Strike for Equality (1970)

• Celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 19th Amendment• Over 20,000 marched in NYC and throughout the country

Gloria Steinem

• A reporter who became a spokeswoman for the movement

• *Founded “Ms.”, a feminist magazine (1972)

“Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.”

Women on TV

• More storylines about independent women in mainstream TV

• “Battle of the Sexes” between Bobby Riggs & Billie Jean King (1970)

Reproductive Rights

• *Sherri Finkbine abortion case (1962)• *Roe v Wade (1973)– Legalized abortion in the 1st trimesterof pregnancy

Equal Rights Amendment (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 amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)• Phyllis Schlafly led the opposition to the amendment• Ronald Reagan elected, reflecting increasing conservatism• *The deadline passes in 1982; not enough states ratify in

time