The Challenges Of Women In The 1970's Rights Movement

During the 1960s women were confined to one lifestyle, they were not acceptable in the public eye and were limited in their family lifestyle as well as the workplace. Women were expected to marry the traditional young marriage and then devote their time to raise the family and take care of their husband. Due to restriction women became activist and voiced their opinion to become equal in the workplace.

Women have been active since the beginning of the early 1800’s and struggle until today’s day, to fight for equality. There were two women movement waves. The first wave was focused on the equality of the women by working on voting rights. The second wave from 1963 to 1982 concentrated on social issues. As in “Collective Action for Social Change”, Aaron Schutz and Marie Sandy stated in their book “women were tired of being second class citizens”. The civil rights movement spillover inspired women to create social movements by acting and building organizations focused on the issues that affected the women. The social issues were child care, domestic violence, contraception, and women’s health. One of the major topics that the feminists focused on was domestic violence that still exists in today’s day worldwide.

The extension of women’s rights from 1877 to the mid 1970s, has changed over time along with the ideals of the different eras. From the original traditional values to those wild and free spirits that dominated the culture in the seventies, since then women and their rights have changed.

With the advancement of suffrage to equal pay, over the last century, women’s rights have progressed immensely. Through historic marches and demonstrations across the United States, women protested for their equal place in politics and social progress. Despite the fear-mongering components used in achieving these rights, women’s rights are still thoroughly debated within society today. Over the last century, incredible and unreachable goals have been fulfilled for women, such as the right to vote and a sense of equal state in the “Free World,” and can only improve in the years to come.

Underlying the feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the “white racist ideology.” The women’s movement of the 1960s was in fact the white women’s movement. It was an opportunity for white feminists to raise their voices, but they only spoke about the plight of the white woman and excluded themselves from the collective group of women across all races and social standings. White women assumed that their experience was the experience of all women. When black women proclaimed that the movement was focused on the oppression of white women, the white feminists asserted “common oppression” and retorted with “oppression cannot be measured.” Ironically, feminists in the 1960s compared their oppression to the oppression of African Americans as

Lingering inequalities and other social trends from previous decades brought forth the modern feminist movement in the 1960s. These feminists campaigned for gender equality with causes such as equal pay for equal work, abortion rights, and social parity. In 1963, author Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, which contained reports from a study conducted on female college graduates during the 1950s and early 1960s, which uncovered that most women labelled themselves exclusively as mothers and housewives, and were unsatisfied with the roles forced upon them. Friedan argued fervently that women needed to discover their own identities outside the roles of a wife and mother. Many believe that the arguments made in The Feminine Mystique marked the start of the modern feminist movement (Loveday, 1)

Gender discrimination and violence against women were not part of the Human Rights Agenda until the 1990s when feminists began to push for this change (p84/book). One of the slogans of their campaign was that “Women’s Rights

If NOW grew out of resurgence of middle class feminism, a different female revolt was brewing with the civil rights and student movements. As in the days of abolitionism, young women who had embraced an ideology of social equality and personal freedom and learned methods of political organizing encountered inequality and sexual exploitation. The women’s liberation movement inspired major expansions of the idea of freedom by insisting that it should be applied to the most intimate realms of life.

Moreover, women were looking forward towards attaining some favors equally with men, such as employment opportunities and high education, which were identified as not possible because of the way woman’s place is taken to be lower than that of a man. It is widely realized that majority of the movements were challenging to how the society should handle women and demonstration of drastic and new idea the moment women acquired equality rights (Anyon, 2014). The women’s rights though fighting against the mistreatment of women by men were aimed at allowing women opportunities to have a say at their homes and yet women were meant to be ruled over by the society’s men. The society leadership would change because of the provision of chances for women to take leadership the same way with

The Government in the 1960’s passed The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The National Organization for Women was created in 1966 there main goal was for women to have the same equal rights as men. The 1970’s was the decade where the civil rights and women’s right were implemented by the government. By outlawing racial and gender discrimination the government created federal agencies to inforce these laws. When in 1975 the Vietnam War ended, the nation’s liberal leaders focused on human rights and individual freedoms. Many new groups were created to be the voice for minorities and women. They would lobby and stage marches to protest failure by the government to enforce the laws of the land. This was the decade when

Women have historically had a rocky relationship with governmental, cultural, religious, and social rights. The Women’s Rights movement has been in effect since approximately 1792, with the publication of the first feminist work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft” (“Women’s Rights Movement”). While social changes have occurred and more progressive laws have been put into place throughout the years, there is still not equality between the sexes. Additionally, gender roles in different countries differ greatly. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the major causes and concerns of the Women’s Rights movements throughout the decades, as well as denote the differences between more progressive societies and their less accepting counterparts.

For years women have been associated with the discriminating roles society has placed on them. For decades now many women have been trying to change the gender gap in pay, being unable to vote, and maltreatment of several thousand a year. The causes of several women have helped them get to where they stand now in society.

Many women were involved on violent acts that through history showed the inequality in rights between men and women. Violence against women can be seen as a social mechanism used by men as control tool to subordinate them to a lower position compared with men. Feminism as a movement was the power behind the women who fought for equal rights in a society where they were denied them. Feminism worked as a motivator, in a sense that allowed these women to verbalize more freely their traumatic experiences. In addition to these conversations, the Feminist movement impacted social and political entities and they were able to hear the voices of these women and the acts that turned them into victims.

With the advent of protests one would think that rights would come quickly to prevent violence and more uprisings. Sadly, this was not the case. Women’s rights were slow to come and it would still be many years before they achieved even a semblance of equality to men.

The oppression of women is based on false assumption and preconceived notions by the male domination world, has been obvious and responsible for paving the way for serious gender issues to emerge. Due to the narrow realms of activity in society, deprived from essential human rights, restricted educations scope, open to unhealthy physical and mental abuse, this society has not given women the opportunity to rise to their full potential. The impact of gender discrimination has not only affected the future of the women today but it has resulted in the slow progress of human mind in general.