Womens Movement

When Civil Rights Act passed, it set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Kenedy established the Commission on the Status of Women in 1961

Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed in 1974 which made it illegal to deny credit to a woman just because of her gender

Roe v. Wade in 1973 assured women right to legal abortions

Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972 banned discrimination in education.

Betty Friedan- Wrote the book, Feminine Mystique, articulated the message that women did not want to be viewed just as housewives and that they wanted more to their lives.

National Organization for Women (NOW)- Established by Betty Friedan, dedicated itself to winning "true equality for all women" and to attaining a "full and equal partnership of the sexes". Set out to break down barriers of discrimination in the workplace and in education

Sandra Day O'Connor became first female Supreme Court Justice

More radical feminists such as Gloria Steinem used mass media to help their cause, founded feminist magazine, Ms., which denounced Playboy and the objectification of women.

Roles and opportunities expanded

gained equal rights that had been denied to them

sparked an important debate about equality that continues today

divided Americans: Some said women hadn't gained enough rights, other felt the movement has actually harmed society

Civil Rights Act made discrimination based on sex illegal

Percentage of women in workplace has grown from 30% in 1950 to more than 60% in 2000.

Fields such as medicine, law, and accounting have opened up

Average woman still makes less than the average man

Majority of nation's poor people are single women, some are single mothers who have costs and responsibilities of raising children alone

Phyllis Schlafly worked to defeat ERA and denounced the movement as a total assault on the family, marriage and children. Because of her, ERA fell three states short of becoming a constitutional amendment.

A major goal of NOW was to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed, which would guarantee gender equality under the law.

Another goal of NOW was to protect reproductive rights, especially the right to abortion

Strategy of NOW was working with existing political system, lobbying for political reforms and readying court cases to compel the government to enforce existing legislation that banned discrimination

Protected Miss America pageant.

Used the clause in Civil Rights Act to challenge discrimination