Legal protections against sex-based discrimination
How the world split open: how the modern women’s movement changed America” is an enthralling history book written by a journalist called Ruth Rosen. It recounts the American women’s movement in the 1960s. It was an era of the civil rights movement that aimed to seek justice for the marginalized communities. Historically, women I the United States had faced gender-based discrimination and therefore, it was their time to express their grievances to the government and seek legal changes (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). The women used several strategies to obtain tangible legal protections against sex-based discrimination despite facing several political, economic and social challenges
Political, economic and legal barriers
The women’s rights movement in the United States sought equal rights and opportunities and greater more personal freedom in the1960s and 70s. The actions to seek equality during that time came to be known as the second wave of feminism (Ruth, 2006). The first wave had occurred in the 19th century when the women fought for the right to vote. The women’s movement in the 1960s touched on any aspect of a woman’s life such as work, politics, family, and sexuality.
After World War II, the lives of the women in the developed countries changed dramatically. The life expectancy increased, modern technology eased the duties of maintaining the household, and the service sector tremendously improved in terms of job opportunities. Even though there were several changes taking place in society, the cultural attitudes towards women had not changed, where they were sexually discriminated against. A French philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir wrote “the second sex”, a book that later became a worldwide bestseller (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). The book invigorated the feminist spirit in the United States because it emphasized the freedom of women.
Another publication that received women’s reaction is the “feminine Mystique” written by Betty Friedman. The author challenged the notion that was socially presented by the media. At the time, the media portrayed the ultimate goal of a woman as being a submissive housewife whose goal was to take care of her husband and children. However, when the women got married most realized that the notion was deceiving them because they needed to accomplish more in life (Ruth, 2006). That led them to the formation of the National Organization for the Women (NOW).
One major challenge faced by Now as the ideological division in the group. NOW formulated a Bill of Rights for Women (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). There were six measures that the group wanted the government to implement to attain women’s equality; equal rights and unsegregated education. Maternity leave rights, child-care centers that allowed the mother to continue working, the tax deduction for child-related expenses, and equal job-training opportunities for poor women.
Two measures regarding women sparked a controversy across the United States. The society was reluctant to make and changes. One measure pushed for the passage of the Equal Right Amendment (ERA) in the constitution. The other measure demanded the government to avail contraception and abortion services to most women in the country. When NOW started to support the passage of the ERA, the United Auto Workers union stopped providing the group with office space. The workers union did so because the implementation of the ERA would prevent labor legislation for women. Another blow on NOW was that the members were divided on issues such as legal laws. Some members left the organization citing that the abortion issue would compromise their struggles against legal and economic bias. Most of the activists from New York became impatient with the top-heavy traditional organization and opted to leave. That was another huge blow for the organization because half of the members were from New York City. As a result, in the next two years NOW struggles to establish itself as a national organization, and other more radical women groups started to emerge. Despite the formation of women groups in the country, sexist attitudes continued to spread in politics. Some women in the unequally treated or exploited within the groups. That is an indication that even though they fought for women’s rights, their bias was deeply ingrained in their mental psychology. For instance, the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC), held a women’s resolution in 1964 but the debate was cut off by Stokely Carmichael (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). Two members of their organization Casey Hayden and Mary King had presented their concerns that the SNCC was practicing discriminatory practices against women in similar was to how the whites discriminated against the African Americans (Ruth, 2006). That was a big blow for women’s rights because Carmichael was a prominent civil rights activist. He said that the stopped the debate because the position of women in the SNCC was “prone”.
Now focused on the issues regarding women’s rights while the other radical groups sought women liberation. Those groups lacked A COHERENT NATIONAL STRUCTURE, but they rapidly spread in cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, and Detroit. Even though the women’s movements spread across the country they did not have officers, mailing addresses, or printed agenda. Therefore, gender discrimination prevailed and the contribution of the women movement to curb it was insignificant.
Race
The feminist movement was led by educated middle-class white women and the group’s goals reflected their concerns. As a result, it created tension between the member from different social classes and races. The campaign against wages and employment opportunities had a positive impact on the unity of the groups, however, the relationship between feminism and African American women faced several challenges. The white feminist’s perceived gender as the main reason they were excluded from taking an active role in building the nation. However, the black women had to consider both sexism and racism to enable the men to comprehend the gender issues and also make the white women cognizant of racial bias (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). Black feminists such as Mary Ann Weathers, Alice Walker, Michele Wallace, BettinaAptheker, and Bell Hooks.
When the white feminist called for unity they assumed that all women were facing a common form of oppression. Black women could hardly consider white women as their feminist sisters. Most of them did not see the white women be any different from the white men oppressors. Toni Cade Bambara in her book “the black woman” asserted that the priorities of the white feminist are different from those of black women, however, there concerns and methods are the same. The black feminist saw that their white counterpart was incapable of understanding their concerns.
The middle-class black women asserted that there was a huge difference between being black and female and being black and male. In the National Black Feminist Organization held in 1973 in New York, the female activist asserted some of the issues on the mainstream feminist movement such as violence, maternity leave, abortion, and daycare were cross-cultural (Ruth, 2006). Therefore, there was a need to establish a good working relationship between the white and black feminists.
The different opinions arose concerning bringing equality in society. The individualist feminist advocated for libertarian principles where there is minimal government interference. The amazon feminist started to highly regard mythical heroine and believed that their liberation could only be achieved through physical strength. The lesbian feminist argued that women could only liberate themselves if they decided to separate themselves from men for a given period. Another school of thought known as the radical feminist argued that gender inequality was perpetrated by the institutions in the society whose operations reflected patriarchy. The role of women was interwoven in the social fabric. Therefore it was imperative to remove the hierarchical and traditional power relationships which promoted male dominance. They advocated the use of anti-authoritarian approaches I politics and organizations.
Finally, there was cultural feminism that rejected the perception that men and women were intrinsically the same. They preferred celebrating the qualities of women that made them unique from the other gender. For instance, women have a greater concern for affective relationships and their nurturing roles. Therefore, their ideology challenges mainstream feminism which attempts to make the women fit into a man’s world.
The women’s rights movement started to lose pace due because NOW was only focusing on the passage of the ERA. Women such as Betty Friedman, Gloria Steinem, and Bella Abzug played a significant role in the ensuing ERA that had been passed in 1972. However, the ratification of ERA became the new way of opposing feminism within the states. Anti-feminist such as Phyllis Schlafly organized crusades that persuaded the public to vote against the amendment of the law. He asserted that the amendment would nullify the state’s sodomy laws, legalize same-sex marriage, make the abortion process to be funded by the taxpayer’s money and abolish single-sex restrooms in public facilities (Ruth, 2006). The ratification required 38 states within 10 years since its passage in Congress. The amendment finally failed after three states refused to ratify it.
The failure of ERA significantly loosened the NOW’s strength and gradually started to fade from the public limelight. Additionally, at the time, there was a feeling in the country that the women’s rights movement had achieved its major goals. However, the organization continued to defend abortion rights, sexual harassment laws, and promote equality in military services. Even though the membership of NOW had grown and its budget increased, the activism had become fragmented.
The 1990s, NOW changed from took a conservative approach in fighting for women’s rights. The issue of abortion was still contentious, hence alienating many women. Some feminists believed in the right of the women but did not agree with the mainstream movement’s position on abortion. The division in the movement widened the Roe v. Wade in 1998.
The plaintiff, Norma McCorvey expressed her opposition to abortion. The opposition by the plaintiff was another backlash on the movement and it cast doubt on the social and economic progress made by the group. At the time, there was an increase in the number of single mothers. Also, divorced women living in poverty was rising (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). That made the American society wonder whether the no-fault divorce and end of most alimony had benefited the women. They also became concerned about the rising number of children left in day-care. Some people perceived that the women were not performing their duties and the tax relief they got as working mothers were destroying the social structure.
4: Strategies used to obtain sexual equality
The women’s’ rights movement used several strategies that became very crucial in attaining equality in several aspects of life. Some of the feminist figures were very brave and risked their lives for the sake of having a nation that treats both genders with respect. While the member in the now launched campaigns to seek legal equity, the other feminist groups made multiple marches against any form of discrimination that was present in the society (Ruth, 2006). They protested against school curricular that lacked female authors. The movement understood that society had been brainwashed by institutions and policies in the country that dictated the role of men and women in society.
Traditionally, the women were seen as the weaker gender and that was reflected in the media and cultural values. Therefore the movement started taking strategies meant to express the actual identity of the women. They created health collectives and rape crisis centers to mitigate the violence against women. The children’s book was rewritten to remove any sexual stereotypes (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). The institutions of higher learning established departments of Women’s studies to provide the student with literature concerning the life and struggles of the women. The studies aimed at ensuring the students and the public, in general, may understand the experience of the women, appreciate their role in society, and treat them equally to their male counterparts.
The women’s rights movement overturned the labor laws despite the strong opposition from several political leaders. The employers who were found to discriminate against women in the recruitment process were required to compensate with back pay. The change allowed women to start working in professions that were initially a prerogative of the men. Such occupations include being: pilot, banker, bus driver, construction worker, soldiers, and construction workers.
In 1966 the NOW created an agenda for the group to make it more pragmatic. The agenda was to make women visible and active in every aspect of American life. One major goal of the organization was to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), an amendment that sought to guarantee women equal rights as the men.
The movement manifested a high level of intelligence and was pioneered by a strong independent feminist that facilitated national discourses regarding women. They discussed the origin of women’s oppression, the role of the family, and the nature of gender. “Sexual politics” is a book by Kate Millet and is among the best –selling books in 1970. She broadened the term politics to include any relationship founded on power. The founder of the New York Radical Feminist, Shulamith Firestone wrote the Dialect of sex where she argued that romantic relationships put women at a disadvantage because it made them vulnerable to men who were their oppressors. Another book that had a significant impact on the movement is the Female Eunuch written Germaine Greer. She held that sexual oppression prevented the women from reaching their full potential because it hindered them from exploiting their creative abilities (Baxandall, & Gordon, 2000). All the literature published aimed to empower women and liberate them from man’s domination. However, attempts to create inclusive feminist ideology failed. A lot of discussion about gender differences, nature of power, or the roots of sexual suppression ended up with acrimoniously with name-calling and recrimination. Sometime the definition of the term liberation would vary.
Conclusively, the women’s movement in the 1960s played a significant role in ensuring the women are treated fairly, despite the challenges they faced. The National Organization of Women was formed to express the grievance of the women, however, there were a lot of disputes among them. As a result, more radical groups emerged in different cities and carried out demonstrations regarding any form of discrimination against the women in the society. The African American feminists felt that the women’s rights movement did not fully understand them because it was mainly based on the concerns of the white women. The women’s rights movement had different opinions and perceptions of pursuing inequality in the country. The major strategies that were successful in bringing about change were the support for the publication of books that aimed to reconstruct the image and role of a woman in society. They also pressed for the amendment of the constitution to allow women to work in any capacity and profession as their male counterparts. Even though the rights movement declined in the 1990s, it had made many accomplishments in a short period.