Voices of Protest
Demonstration for Equal Rights Amendment
Chapter 19.1
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
Above: traditional family supper; below:
Betty Friedan poses
sandwiches, type, stay at
home
• Betty Friedan
– “The Feminine Mystique”
– “Is this It?”
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