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The Importance Of The Women's Rights Movement

Decent Essays

Women have waged war for equal rights for over 150 years. Although women had won many battles in the United States during that time, the 1960's proved to be the period when the movements greatest advances would come to fruition. The birth control pill was introduced in 1960, and in 1964 Title VII of The Civil Rights Act passed which prohibited discrimination in employment based on a person's sex (U.S. History 884). These two events energized the women's rights movement, and many significant achievements would follow. The women's rights movement advanced more in 1960's due to the birth control pill and the Civil Rights Act than it had in the previous 100 years. One of the greatest devices in the emancipation of women was the birth control pill. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960 and liberated women by allowing them to restrict, postpone, or block, pregnancy, and motherhood. According to our textbook. "Within five years of the pill's approval, some six million women were using it" (U.S. History 884). The fact that the birth control pill gave women options never available to them before made it an attractive choice. For the first time, they could choose to further their education or have a career. As a result, the staggering number of births also known as the Baby Boomer Generation ended in 1964. Another significant advancement for women was The Civil Rights Act of 1964. It not only prohibited discrimination by an employer based on a person's race,

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