L10 & L11 : Second Wave Feminism & Feminist Activism:
1960s & 1970s
Equality and Hierarchy: Women’s Experience
Agenda
Objective:
To understand…
1. The theory,
organization, and
action of secondwave feminism.
2. The legislative
accomplishments of
second-wave
feminism
Schedule:
1. Lecture & Discussion
Homework
Unit Work:
• Nothing immediately…
Thesis:
• Assign #4 Focus & Early Research
Due (G: Fri 1/3; Y: Fri 1/3)
•
Assign #5 Research Question,
Bibliography, and Note Cards (G: Mon
1/6; Y: Mon 1/6)
The Feminine Mystique Sparks SecondWave Feminism
• Many women are dissatisfied with the return
to domesticity that the end of World War Two brings.
• Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, 1963
– Exposes the unhappiness and lack of fulfillment many
women feel as housewives
– Awakens women to the fact that the ideal of feminine
fulfillment is an oppressive ideology and that their
personal struggles are not personal, but an outgrowth of
systematic oppression
• Feminine Mystique helps spark what is known as
second-wave feminism
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
• 1961
• Established by President
Kennedy
• Chaired by Eleanor
Roosevelt
• 1963 the Commission
released a report called,
The Presidential Report on
American Women
– Report documented widespread
workplace discrimination
– Recommended affordable child care,
equal employment opportunity for women, and paid maternity leave
• Significant because it “proves” the inequality alluded to by
Friedan and others
– Women don’t just “feel” they are being treated unfairly, they
objectively are!
Second-Wave Feminism
• 1960-early 1980s
• Also called:
– Women’s Rights
Movement
– Women’s Liberation
Movement
• Focus:
– Not focused on one issue
– Not an issue driven movement, instead it is a theory
lead movement designed to identify and expose a
central institution of oppression in women’s lives, and
then make widespread change across a range of
issues in an effort to undo that source of oppression.
– “The personal is political”
• What do you think this means?
Four Goals/Agendas of
Second-Wave Feminism
Develop
a
Feminist
Theory
Raise
Awareness
of Female
Oppression
Among
Women
Act
Organize
• Protest &
Activism
• Legislative
Changes
Develop a Feminist Theory
Emergence of Feminist Theory
• For the first time women’s rights activists
began to outline a theory of the female
experience.
• Why do you think the development of
theory is so important to a social rights
movement?
• Why is the development of feminist theory
so important to the women’s rights
movement?
Emergence of a Feminist Theory
•
Theory is essential for an activist movement, because it allows you to see that
the troubles/difficulties/persecution in your life are not an individual problem, but
rather are an outgrowth of the design of the social system in which you live.
– Theory explains how problems are a result of systematic oppression, not private
issues or personal complaints
•
•
In the 1960s, scholars began to develop a feminist theory to expose the
structure of oppression at work in women’s lives. The goal is to point out that
women’s persecution is a structural, not personal, issue.
Feminist theory asserts that women are oppressed as a result of the social
system of patriarchy.
– Patriarchy is a social system in which males
are the primary authority figures, occupying
roles of political power, moral authority,
control over the family, and control over
property. Patriarchy also includes the
oppression of minorities and homosexuals as
part of a broader system designed to
subordinate women.
– Feminist theory argues that ridding society of
patriarchy will result in liberation for women, men,
minorities, and gays.
Denied
Suffrage
Laws
prohibiting
women from
divorce
Ideology of
Feminine
Fulfillment
Patriarchy
Gender Gap
in Pay
Gendered
Division of
Household
labor
Variants of Feminist Theory:
Liberal Feminism
•
•
•
•
•
•
First theory of feminism to emerge
Argues that all people are created equal by nature
and deserve equal rights.
Asserts that oppression exists because of the way in
which men and women are socialized, which
supports patriarchy and keeps men in power
positions.
Asserts that women have the same mental capacity as
men and should be given the same opportunities in
political, economic and social spheres.
Need to reform social institutions to make them more
equitable between men and women.
Support legislation that remove barriers to equality for women.
–
•
•
Ex: Legislation for equal pay
Key Figures:
– Betty Friedan
– Gloria Steinem
Criticized for:
– Trying to make women “act like men” within institutions, rather than deconstructing
patriarchy and its institutions
– Treating the experience of all women as the same; not seeing race and class differences
in the female experience
Variants of Feminist Theory:
Radical Feminism
•
•
•
Believe that the domination of women is the oldest and
worst kind of oppression in the world--this because it
spans across the world oppressing women of different
races, ethnicities, classes and cultures.
Want to free both men and women from the rigid gender
roles that society has imposed upon them. It is this sexgender system that has created oppression and radical
feminist's mission is to overthrow this system by any
possible means.
Believe that society must be changed at its core in order
to dissolve patriarchy and bring about true equality.
–
•
Radical feminists emphasize their difference from men.
Men and women are both equal, but they are
fundamentally different people.
–
•
Though some radical feminists, like Mary Daly, argue for the
superiority of women.
Key Figures
–
•
Must break down social institutions, not just reform them
Mary Daly
Clash with the ideals of the liberal feminist because…
–
–
–
They want to break down institutions, not amend them.
Do not see men and women as fundamentally the same,
even if they are equal
They want to free both men and women from rigid gender
roles, not just make women’s gender roles look more like
men’s
Mary Daly taught at BC for 33
years. She retired in 1999 after
violating the university’s policy by
refusing to allow male students in
her advanced women’s studies
classes. She allowed male students
in her introductory class and
privately tutored those who
wanted to take advance classes.
Variants of Feminist Theory:
Socialist Feminism
• Believe that there is a direct link between class structure and the
oppression of women.
– Western society rewards working men because they produce tangible,
tradable goods. On the other hand, women's work in the domestic sphere is
not valued by western society because women do not produce a tangible,
tradable good. This gives men power and control over women.
• Challenge the ideologies of BOTH capitalism and patriarchy.
• Much like the views of radical feminists, believe that although women
are divided by class, race, ethnicity and religion, they all experience the
same oppression simply for being a woman.
• Believe that the way to end this oppression is to put an end to class and
gender. Women must work side by side men in the political sphere. In
order to defeat capitalism and its associated inequality, women must
work with men, as opposed to ostracizing them.
• Key Figures:
– Heidi Hartmann
Variants of Feminist Theory:
Feminist Separatism
• Argues that in a patriarchal society,
heterosexuality is a political
institution through which gender
oppression is maintained.
• Heterosexual sex itself is a form of
oppression
• Two solutions…
– Radical-Libertarian Separatism
• Women should control every aspect
of their sexuality—redefine sex
• Advocate artificial means of
reproduction so that less time is
devoted to pregnancy
– Lesbian-Separatism
• The only way to completely escape
patriarchy is for men and women to
separate and practice homosexuality,
allowing women to be in complete
control of their sexuality.
Raise Awareness
With Feminist Theory
established, leaders in the
feminist movement begin
raising awareness of
women’s oppression.
The tool they use to do this
is Consciousness-Raising
What is consciousness-raising?
"I think a lot about being attractive," Ann said. "People don't
find the real self of a woman attractive." And then she went
on to give some examples. And I just sat there listening to
her describe all the false ways women have to act: playing
dumb, always being agreeable, always being nice, not to
mention what we had to do to our bodies, with the clothes
and shoes we wore, the diets we had to go through, going
blind not wearing glasses, all because men didn't find our
real selves, our human freedom, our basic humanity
"attractive." And I realized I still could learn a lot about how
to understand and describe the particular oppression of
women in ways that could reach other women in the way
this had just reached me. The whole group was moved as I
was, and we decided on the spot that what we needed -- in
the words Ann used -- was to "raise our consciousness some
Consciousness-Raising
• Why does the women’s
movement need
consciousness-raising?
– What does it suggest
about the type of
oppression women face?
• How does consciousness
raising help women to
understand their
oppression, rather than
just seeking change
around one issue?
Organize
The National Organization for
Women
• Women active in the Civil Rights
realize that if women are going to
want to make change they need
to organize!
• Need to create a “NAACP for
Women”
• They form the National
Organization for Women (NOW)
in 1966.
– Betty Friedan was the group’s first
President
NOW
• In 1968 the group issued a
Bill of Rights
• Discuss the NOW Bill of
Rights 1968
– What rights do they
demand?
– How do they propose
securing these rights?
– Overall, how would you
characterize the vision of
Second-Wave Feminism
Based on this Bill of Rights?
Act
Act Through Activism
• Women begin to protest, speak out, and
march in large numbers
• Protests are “in your face”
• They protest over a wide-range of issues:
– Political inequality
– Economic inequality
– Cultural degradation of women
• Example: 1968 Protest of the Miss America
Pageant
– How does this protest exemplify the feminist
theory of second-wave feminism?
Act: Legislative Change
• NOW and other organizations begin to
demand:
1. Laws Banning Sex Discrimination in
Employment
2. Laws Giving Women More Rights in the
Family
3. Laws Ending Unequal Education
4. Promotion of Women’s Control over their
Reproductive Lives
5. Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment
Laws Banning Sex Discrimination
in Employment
Equal Pay Act of 1963
• States that no employer may pay
lower wages to employees of one
gender than it pays to employees of
the other gender employees within the
same establishment for equal work at
jobs that require equal skill, effort and
responsibility, and that are performed
under similar working conditions.
• Huge step forward for gender equity in
employment
• But…Does not address interoccupational inequality for jobs that
require the same skill.
– Maid vs. Janitor
– “Comparable Worth” Argument
• Signed into law by President Kennedy
Civil Rights Act 1964
• Law that outlawed major forms of
discrimination against racial, ethnic,
national and religious minorities, as
well as women.
• Act was originally intended to end
racial inequality, and said nothing
about women.
– U.S. Rep Howard W. Smith (VA)
added the word “sex” to the Act in an
effort to derail the measure so African
Americans would not gain Civil
Rights.
– However, the entire Act passed into
law without floor debate.
• For the first time the United States
had a law against sex discrimination
in federally-funded public
accommodations
Laws Giving Women More
Rights in the Family
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)
• Prohibits sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
• Specifically…
– Hiring
• An employer cannot refuse to
hire a pregnant woman because
of her pregnancy,
– Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
• An employer may not single out
pregnancy-related conditions for
special procedures to determine
an employee's ability to work.
• If an employee is temporarily unable
to perform her job because of her pregnancy, the employer must treat
her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.
• Pregnant employees must be permitted to work as long as they are able
to perform their jobs.
• Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy-related absence the
same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability
leave.
Illegalization of Marital Rape
• Many United States rape statutes precluded
the prosecution of spouses, including
estranged, or even legally separated couples.
• In 1975 South Dakota became the first U.S.
state to remove this exception.
• In 1993, North Carolina became the last state
to remove the exemption.
• However, as of 1999, 33 of 50 U.S. states
regarded spousal rape as a lesser crime.
No-Fault Divorce
• No-fault divorce is a divorce in which the
dissolution of the marriage does not
require proof of wrongdoing by either
party.
• In 1970, California became the first state
to pass no-fault divorce.
• In 2010, New York became the last state.
Title X (1970)
• Allots federal funds to a network of
community-based clinics that provide
contraceptive services, related counseling,
and other preventative health services to lowincome women and families.
– Services include: contraception, breast and pelvic
exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings,
STD screening and treatment, HIV testing and
counseling, and pregnancy counseling.
• Signed into law by President Nixon
Laws Ending Unequal Education
Title IX (1972)
• Portion of the Education
Amendments of 1972
• States that:
– No person in the United States
shall, on the basis of sex, be
excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination under
any education program or activity
receiving federal financial
assistance...
• In short, Prohibits sex discrimination
in schools whether academic or
athletic.
• Major effects on the equal creation
and funding of women’s athletics
• Signed into law by President Nixon