1963-72, Women

Question 1

Existing Inequality

Economic

Answer 1

1963, 75% women in lower paying clerical, sales or factory jobs
Early 1960s, many in ‘female occupations’ - nursing + teaching -** 80% teachers, 10% principals**, 7% doctors, and 3% lawyers

Question 2

Existing Inequality

Legal

Answer 2

18 states refused to allow female jurors
6 disallowed financial agreements without male co-signatory
Expelled pregnant girls + fired pregnant teachers
Some states prohibited married women accessing contraception

Question 3

Existing Inequality

Social

Answer 3

Magazines, films, adverts promoted domesticity - girls encouraged to intelligence, and embrace feminity
Some took refuge in tranquilisers (doubled between 1958-59) or alcohol

Question 4

NOW

Betty Friedan

Answer 4

‘The Feminine Mystique’ (1963) - Described marriage as a ‘comfortable concentration camp’, and urged women to break out and fulfil potential through education + work
Bestseller, tapped resevoir of discontent, esp among college students

Question 5

NOW

Establishment + Aims

Answer 5

National Organisation for Women (1966) founded
Unhappy with gov’s refusal to enforce Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act - banned employment discrimination based on sex
Aimed to enforce this + amend constitution

Question 6

NOW

Tactics

Answer 6

Litigation
Political pressure and lobbying
Public information campaigns
Protests

Question 7

NOW

Litigation

Answer 7

Weeks v Southern Bell
Lorena Weeks claimed Southern Bell contravened Civil Rights Act by denying application for promotion as ‘a woman would be unable to lift 30 pounds’
Lost initial case in 1966, victorious in 1969 after several appeals
Weeks given job + $31,000 in back pay

Question 8

NOW

Political Pressure and Lobbying

Answer 8

Produced a ‘Bill of Rights for Women’ (1968) to demand enforcement of Titlle VII of Civil Rights Act
First national campaign to endorse legalisation of abortion

Question 9

NOW

Public Information Campaigns

Answer 9

1967
NOW helped gain national attention for flight attendants’ fight against sexist airline advertisements

Question 10

NOW

Protests

Answer 10

1970
NOW organised national women’s strike for equality
Estimated 100,000 women gave active support
Thousands marched with banners, some dumped children on their husband’s desks

Question 11

NOW

Success? - Presidential

Answer 11

May 1967 - Johnson signed Executive Order 11375 outlawing sexual discrimination in companies working for gov
Promised to appoint 50 women to top government posts, and asked NOW to advise on appointments

Question 12

NOW

Success? - Legal Cases

Answer 12

NOW fought over 1000 discrimination cases, won $13 mil in back pay for women by 1971
Criminal cases - Pennsylvania (1966) Jane Daniel convicted of robbery + recieved longer sentence than male accomplice
NOW showed this violated Civil Rights Act

Question 13

NOW

Success? - Workplace

Answer 13

Some improvement
1964 - 50% of 20-24 yr old women employed, by 1973 - 61%
But salaries still lower - professional women only 73% salaries of men

Question 14

NOW

Success? - Legislation

Answer 14

Both houses of Congress agreed to Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, but never ratified
Nixon vetoed 1971 Child Development Act - would have established national system of childcare + only 3.5% of his appointees women

Question 15

NOW

Airlines v Stewardesses - Initial

Answer 15

1963 - All flight attendants female, could be fired for getting married or turning 32
House of Representatives held hearings
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found Northwest Airlines guilty of illegal discrimination (but not enforced)

Question 16

NOW

Airlines v Stewardesses - Success

Answer 16

1966 onwards - series of court battles
1968 - some major airlines agreed stewardesses could marry
1970 - fed court ruled against marriage bans + age restrictions (Sprogis vs United)

Question 17

Women’s Liberation Movement

Aims

Answer 17

NOW mainly focused on work
Women’s lib movement put emphasis on publicising + opposing sexist oppression and cultural practices that objectified women

Question 18

Women’s Liberation Movement

Jo Freeman

Answer 18

Active in student + civil rights campaigns for SCLC in Alabama
Produced newsletter, Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement in 1967, encouraged nationwide formation of women’s groups

Question 19

Women’s Liberation Movement

Tactics

Answer 19

Held consciousness-raising meetings in colleges and community
First national meeting in Chicago - seen as younger branch
1960 - Quarter of women said they felt discriminated against, by 1974 it was two thirds

Question 20

Radical Feminist Organisations

New York Radical Feminists

Answer 20

Shulamith Firestone est in NYC
Consciousness raising meetings focused on male subordination of females
‘The Dialetic of Sex’ (1970) - suggested IVF to free women from biologically determined position

Question 21

Radical Feminist Organisations

The Feminists

Answer 21

Ti-Grace Atkinson
Early member of NOW, left in 1968, considered it insufficiently radical
Est in NYC, excluded men + married women from membership
Argued sexual revolution benefitted men as it gave them easier access to women’s bodies
Highly critical of marriage and pornography

Question 22

Radical Feminist Organisations

The New York Radical Women

Answer 22

Organised women’s **‘speakouts’ **- for example about abortions
Powerful, encouraged many to rethink perspective
Protest of over 100 women against Miss America pageant in 1968 - threw stink bomb, crowned a sheep, and threw symbols of male oppression into a trash can

Question 23

Radical Feminist Organisations

Impact

Answer 23

Some members of NOW felt radical feminists made public less sympathetic
Some disagreed over demand for legalised abortion
Breakaway groups (e.g. Radicalesbians) resented lack of NOW support for lesbians