Women's Movement Notes
Early Life and Expectations
The Betty Crocker era emphasized marriage and motherhood for women.
Women's minds were being opened, and they wanted to express themselves.
Breaking new ground was exhilarating.
In the 1950s, life looked good for high school graduates, and America was booming with a prosperous new middle class.
The future held limitless possibilities for boys but less promise for girls.
Women were expected to get a degree in education as a backup and find a husband in college.
Many women married before finishing college, missing the chance to grow and discover their potential.
There was pressure to get a "Mrs." degree and be taken care of.
Engagement was a celebrated milestone, symbolized by the diamond ring and choices of China and silverware.
The ideal for middle-class American women was marriage, followed by assuming their role at home as wives and mothers.
The Feminine Mystique
Women felt the need for a decent kitchen.
In 1952, there was heavy propaganda to live the good life in a small house in the suburbs with children and a husband.
The culture reinforced the image of the happy Homemaker, always perky, pretty, and cheerful.
Serious, smart women were absent from television and advertising.
Women were being taught how to perform domestic tasks.
During World War II, women worked in factories, but by the early 1950s, they were mostly in low-paying, dead-end jobs.
Employment agencies had separate cards for men and women, with limited opportunities for women.
High scores on aptitude tests suggested women should become secretaries.
African-American women had even fewer career opportunities.
Middle-class women became Homemakers behind white picket fences, but many felt something was missing.
They had better lives than previous generations but were not necessarily happier.
There was a sense of alienation and feeling abnormal for wanting more than what they had.
Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" exposed the myth of the happy Homemaker in 1963.
The book sold over 50,000 copies in hardcover and 700,000 in paperback.
Friedan argued that women felt unfeminine for wanting equality and participation in world decisions.
She had given up an academic career to become a homemaker and journalist and wondered if other women felt the same way.
Interviews with Smith classmates revealed a deep sense of Mala and a lack of choices.
Women felt freakish and alone for wanting more than being a wife and mother.
Reading the book helped women realize they were not alone in their feelings.
Challenges and Discrimination
Some women felt personally judged by "The Feminine Mystique" because it dismissed their worthwhile work at home.
The book was timely as Women's Rights began to surface as a national issue.
In 1963, President Kennedy issued a report finding widespread discrimination against women in the workplace.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 included a ban on gender discrimination, but few took it seriously.
The director of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) called it a fluke.
Eileen Hernandez, the only woman on the commission, faced resistance from commissioners focused on race issues.
The first big discussion about sex discrimination involved airlines.
Airlines had strict requirements for stewardesses, including being single, young, and of certain height and weight.
They were taught how to apply makeup, style their hair, and maintain their appearance.
Girdle checks were performed to ensure compliance with uniform standards.
Stewardesses were often fired at age 32 because they were considered too old.
Stewardesses marched to Washington to file a claim with the EEOC in 1965.
The EEOC was unprepared to handle sex discrimination cases and did nothing under pressure from the airlines.
Eileen Hernandez quit in frustration.
Formation of NOW and Legal Battles
Eileen Hernandez joined female lawyers and politicians frustrated with the EEOC's inaction.
They formed the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Betty Friedan was invited to be its first president.
NOW chose a legal strategy to challenge discriminatory laws, focusing on Lina Weeks' case in Georgia.
In 1967, Lina Weeks, a telephone operator, sued Southern Bell for blocking her advancement.
Women were not allowed to do many jobs, such as cable repairman or switchman.
Weeks applied for a switchman position, but was denied because the job was reserved for men.
Southern Bell argued they were protecting women from lifting heavy equipment.
NOW provided a young lawyer, Sylvia Roberts, to handle Weeks' appeal.
Roberts demonstrated in court that Weeks could lift objects weighing over 30 lbs.
In 1969, a federal appeals court ruled in Weeks' favor, stating that title 7 rejects romantic paternalism.
The case gave momentum to NOW, showing that women could achieve equality under the law.
NOW moved on to other victories, including ending segregated help wanted ads and male-only clubs.
Divisions within the Movement
The movement was limited and largely concerned with the travails of white middle-class women.
Black women were initially perplexed about how to respond to the women's movement.
Feminism was perceived to be white women's work, not black women's work.
Black women's priorities were different, as they often needed two incomes to raise their families.
Many college-age white women joined the Civil Rights Movement and were inspired by black sisters.
Younger women began to see sexism within their own ranks.
Women in The Civil Rights Movement started Ling the principles to themselves as women.
The Civil Rights and anti-war movements inspired younger women but exposed them to deep sexism.
Women discovered they were natural leaders but were not allowed to rise.
The bad behavior by guys in the left was particularly heartbreaking to young idealistic women.
The first autonomous radical feminist groups began to form.
Women were angry and organized, having been in other movements.
Groups developed across America, sharing similar problems and desires.
Young women had a more sweeping vision of change than NOW, calling it women's Liberation.
Marriage was seen as unpaid labor, and society was expected to take responsibility for child care.
Consciousness Raising and Protests
Meeting in small groups, women began to discuss their private experiences, called Consciousness raising.
Consciousness raising helped women realize they were not alone.
Women compared notes and realized they shared similar experiences of oppression.
The new ideas of women's Liberation spread quickly from campus to campus and City to City.
Radical ideas were passed on through pamphlets and conferences.
Women Drew from their most intimate personal experiences a whole new worldview.
They coined a phrase for it: the person is political.
In 1968, women's liberationists protested the Miss America Pageant.
They saw the pageant as promoting a model of what women should be like.
The winner was supposed to have talent, looks, personality, and poise.
Robin Morgan and hundreds of other women gathered on the boardwalk outside the Atlantic City Convention Center.
They had a freedom trash can for objects of women's oppression.
A live sheep was crowned because Miss America and the contestants were seen as sheep.
A banner with the words women's Liberation was unfurled during the TV broadcast.
Women's liberationists knew how to turn bold public actions into media coverage.
They organized the whistle in on Wall Street and other protests.
Women's magazines were a rich Target for women's Liberation because they promoted a stereotype of the happy Homemaker.
A sit-in was organized at the Ladies Home Journal.
The occupiers demanded that the magazine cease to further the exploitation of women.
The editor agreed to give the occupiers eight pages in an upcoming issue.
A nationwide strike was proposed for August 26, the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage.
Women marched in New York and other cities.
The national media sneered at the marches and undercounted the number of women participating.
There was a perception that it was a small group of unsatisfied women.
Media Representation and Internal Conflicts
Barbara Walters sent a memo to NBC news suggesting a story on the woman's movement, but it was rejected.
Television talk show hosts would book radical feminists just to confront them.
The strident views of radical feminists shocked and repelled many Americans.
Betty Friedan tried to distance herself and the movement from the women's liberationists.
Friedan was wary of lesbians and referred to them as the lavender Menace.
Lesbian women were desperate to join the feminist movement but were not welcomed.
Charlotte Bunch and Rita May Brown were activists who faced a cold shoulder from the women's movement.
Women of color also saw little in the movement to remove them.
African-American women began to talk and write about their own vision of feminism.
They wanted a feminism that took into account not just gender issues but racial and class oppression.
Betty Friedan was unable to bridge the widening Rifts in the movement.
Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine
Gloria Steinem emerged as a new leader.
Steinem had media skills and transformed the movement.
She grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and watched her mother spiral into depression after giving up her career.
Steinem saw little hope of avoiding the same fate.
She arrived in New York in the early 60s hoping to forge her own career in journalism but found herself stymied.
Steinem covered a public hearing on abortion and wrote about it.
Steinem began to speak out in public herself.
Steinem believed that feminism would never be given a fair Hearing in other magazines, so she started her own with a group of other successful journalists.
They called it Miz.
The media predicted the demise of Miz, but the first issue sold out in 8 days.
Miz magazine challenged thinking about what women could go and do.
The goal was to reach every woman in the country.
Thousands of women got to know the women's movement through M magazine.
Letters to Miz magazine revealed that readers felt like they were not crazy or alone.
Rose G, a young mother in Binghamton, New York, trapped in an abusive marriage, found support in Miz magazine.
Miz magazine was a lifeline and a window into the outside world.
Expansion and Legacy
Miz magazine widened the reach of feminism and ushered in a new era of the women's movement.
The movement migrated from an outsider's Insurgency to the main stream of American life.
The movement laid Siege to the country's most established institutions.
The relationship between men and women changed.
The movement broadened to include issues such as abortion rights and challenged traditional gender roles.