Impact of women's liberation movement?

Question 1

What commission did Kennedy set up to help women’s rights and when?

Answer 1

Commission of Enquiry on the Status of Women in 1961

Question 2

When did the commission set up by Kennedy release its results and what did it say?

Answer 2

In 1963 and praised the Equal Pay Act, wider job opportunities for women, BUT the Equal Pay Act was badly needed enforcing, and improve childcare.

Question 3

How many workers did women account for?

Answer 3

1/3

Question 4

What were women discriminated in according to the commission report?

Answer 4

Training and wages (e.g. minimum wages)

Question 5

What did the commission report about female education?

Answer 5

Girls weren’t encouraged to think about careers

Question 6

How did the report by the commission have an effect on government thinking?

Answer 6

Made them reconsider the treatment of women, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act included sexual equality to close the gap between the passing of law and its enforcement

Question 7

Who was Betty Friedan?

Answer 7

American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women’s movement in the United States,

Question 8

What book did Betty Friedan release in 1963 and what purpose did it serve?

Answer 8

‘The Feminine Mystique’ which spoke about the constraints of suburban life and triggered thinking about women’s rights and their lives.

Question 9

Which organization did Betty Friedan help form in 1966 and what did it do?

Answer 9

National Organisation for Women (NOW) which aimed to work within politics to gain equality and better enforce the Civil Rights Act and Equal Pay Act

Question 10

Who mainly opposed the women’s liberation movement?

Answer 10

Men, radicals, and conservatives

Question 11

What did some radicals say about men?

Answer 11

They blamed all men and viewed them as the enemy

Question 12

Why did Conservatives oppose the women’s liberation movement?

Answer 12

It was ‘un-American’ to support things they stood for, like abortion and contraception

Question 13

Why did the movement loose support in the 1960’s?

Answer 13

The influence of liberalism was on the decline

Question 14

Who was Phyllis Schlafly and how did she oppose the women’s liberation movement and NOW?

Answer 14

Schlafly was a conservative who opposed the ideas of women’s liberation and set up a group called STOP ERA (Stop Taking Our Privileges ERA) in 1972.

Question 15

Why did Phyllis Schlafly oppose the liberation movement?

Answer 15

She believed women were designed to have babies and thought women would loose various tax benefit privileges under equal rights.
(Any other valid answer)

Question 16

What were the main gains of the Women’s Liberation Movement?

Answer 16

• In 1967, Johnson extended an executive order for improvement of conditions for those discriminated in the workplace
• In 1970’s, some states allowed abortions under certain circumstances
• In 1972, Supreme Court allowed contraception from single and married women and federally legalized in 1973
• In 1972, ERA passed as an amendment to constitution by Congress

Question 17

What were the main limits/failures of the liberation movement?

Answer 17

• 38 out of the 50 states in America needed to ratify the ERA for it to be passed by 15 were refusing to pass it
• The ERA was abandoned and NOW was disintegrated due conservatism rising and the group being fragmented
• Middle class white women felt the groups didn’t represent them or women as a whole as working-class and non-white women were excluded.