Women Fight for Equality

1. Experiences in the workplace:

By 1960 the percentage of women with jobs had increased by 40 percent but there was still jobs that they were still not allowed to do, that were known as mens jobs. People ignored this discrimination until Kennedy made the Presidential commission on the status of women..

2. Experiences in social activism:
These experiences led women to make groups to talk about their suppression in society, and their talks led to "consciousness raising."

3. "Consciousness raising":

This was when women talked about their lives together and found out they were all going through the same thing, which showed sexism was a big thing. This raised awareness of sexism and made people realize how prevalent it was at the time.

4. Feminism:

This was the belief that women should be equal with men. This created the womens movement.

5. Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique:

Betty Friedan wrote the book The Feminine Mystique. This book showed that women were not happy with their situation and became a top seller. This was one of the big reason why women began to gain more interest in the problem and began to want change.

6. Civil Rights Act of 1964:

The civil rights act of 1964 caused women to gain strength because it prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. It also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which was made to handle the discrimination claims.

7. National Organization for Women (NOW):

This was made to help go after the goals of the women. The members pushed for the creation of child-care-facilities so that the mothers would be able to work and or go to school. This also made the EEOC enforce the law that discriminating was illegal. This made the EEOC declare that ads that were sexist against women be illegal and also that employers could not refuse women for the jobs men always had.

8. Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine:

Gloria Steinem was one of the most important prominent figures in the movement after she and a few other women founded Ms. Magazine, which treated contemporary issues from a feminist perspective. She also helped founded the National Women's Political Caucus, which encouraged women to seek political office. Her actions were advanced the movement by this.

9. Congress:

Congress passed a banned gender discrimination. After this several all-male colleges started accepting women, and also the same year congress gave the EEOC more power and gave parents that worked a tax break for child care.

10. Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court made the ruling in the Roe V Wade case which was a controversial case that feminists and NOW had supported. This issue still has not been solved.

11. The Equal rights Amendment would have guaranteed equal rights under the law, regardless of gender. Who opposed this amendment? Why?

Phyllis Schlafy and conservative religious groups were against the amendment because they thought it would lead to a parade of horribles, which would include the drafting of women and the ending of the laws that protected homemakers. They also thought that it would end the fact that the father had to support his family, and they were also afraid of same-sex marriages.