The 1960's in America is that decade of protests and conflicts that we as a country must learn and grow from. People came together to insist that America better understand the many different identities of its citizens.
Why Document the Women's Movement?
How many times have we all heard something along the lines of "boys are stronger than girls"? It is because of this instinctive thought that women had to fight to become equals to men. However, this fight for women's rights continues here in the U.S. and around the globe still to this day, that is why it is crucial for PBS to document this movement that stemmed up in the 1960's.It is important that people are reminded of this issue today.
Women's Liberation Overview
By the mid-1960’s, almost half a century after women won the right to vote, women’s rights activism joined the explosion of civil rights, anti-war, and student movements. For well over a decade hundreds of thousands of American women turned out for massive demonstrations. These women overturned discriminatory laws through legislation and court action and broke new ground by entering male dominated professions (law, medicine, clergy, and corporate). They fought and worked hard to initiate a vast array of new institutions such as rape crisis centers, shelters for battered women, feminist journals, health clinics, and coffee houses. The movement was marked by its challenge to traditional roles as thousands of women joined groups to re-think the meaning and potentials of womanhood.
What spurred feminist activism?
→ the massive shift in women’s economic roles in the aftermath of World War II
→ married women entered the labor force in unthinkable numbers
→ middle-class lifestyles required dual incomes
→ educational opportunities led more and more women to sense their potential for meaningful professional careers
→ the movement against slavery trained women in the skills of movement building and activism, and the civil rights movement in the 1960s demonstrated the possibility of a movement able to touch the nation using non-violent means
Founding Moments
→ In 1966 the National Organization for Women was organized to work through the legal system to overturn discriminatory laws
→ A year later, younger female activists in civil rights and student movements began to form women’s liberation groups where women told their stories and due to common experiences began to challenge cultural definitions of women as submissive, dependent, passive, emotional, weak, and unintellectual
→ Women’s liberation was generated by the fact that the movement called into question underlying definitions of gender – womanhood and manhood
→ Young women began to wear more gender-neutral clothing, to oppose the sexual double standard, and to claim for women the right both to sexual expressiveness and sexual preference inside or outside of marriage
→ Women also demanded choice about childbearing, by advocating for access to birth control and legal abortion
→ Roe v. Wade made abortion in the early months of pregnancy a constitutionally protected right if a woman wanted to choose it
→ A year later, younger female activists in civil rights and student movements began to form women’s liberation groups where women told their stories and due to common experiences began to challenge cultural definitions of women as submissive, dependent, passive, emotional, weak, and unintellectual
→ Women’s liberation was generated by the fact that the movement called into question underlying definitions of gender – womanhood and manhood
→ Young women began to wear more gender-neutral clothing, to oppose the sexual double standard, and to claim for women the right both to sexual expressiveness and sexual preference inside or outside of marriage
→ Women also demanded choice about childbearing, by advocating for access to birth control and legal abortion
→ Roe v. Wade made abortion in the early months of pregnancy a constitutionally protected right if a woman wanted to choose it
Relevance to today's society
→ Feminist activism, stemming from the upsurge in the 1960s and 1970s, spread around the globe through the 20th century and into the 21st century
→ The fight for full equality between women and men is far from over
→ Sexist attitudes remain pervasive in American pop culture and discrimination, though illegal, continually finds subtle expression, as most working women can testify
Check out about these issues today on NOW's website:
These key topics are issues that organizations like NOW continue to fight for today! Click on each to learn how are fighting for their rights today.
Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Economic Justice
Ending Sex Discrimination
Lesbian Rights
Promoting Diversity & Ending Racism
Stopping Violence Against Women
→ The fight for full equality between women and men is far from over
→ Sexist attitudes remain pervasive in American pop culture and discrimination, though illegal, continually finds subtle expression, as most working women can testify
Check out about these issues today on NOW's website:
These key topics are issues that organizations like NOW continue to fight for today! Click on each to learn how are fighting for their rights today.
Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Economic Justice
Ending Sex Discrimination
Lesbian Rights
Promoting Diversity & Ending Racism
Stopping Violence Against Women
Please note: This website has been created as a school project with a focus on the women's social movement of the 1960's! We have affiliation with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).