Women's liberation

Question 1

Timeline: 1963

Answer 1

‘The Feminine Mystique’ published

Question 2

Timeline: 1967

Answer 2

• Executive Order 11375 outlaws sexual discrimination in companies working for the government
• Weeks v. Southern Bell results in first successful prosecution of sexist practice in the workplace

Question 3

Timeline: 1968

Answer 3

• ‘The Institution of Sexual Intercourse’ published

- New York Radical Women (NYRW) protest against the Miss World pageant

Question 4

(Intorduction): How do historians describe the progression of feminism

Answer 4

In a series of waves

Question 5

(Intorduction): What happened in first wave feminism?

Answer 5

• Ended in 1920

- Addressed womens political rights

Question 6

(Intorduction): What happened in second wave feminism?

Answer 6

Addressed economic issues

Question 7

(Intorduction): What happened in third/radical wave feminism?

Answer 7

Addressed more fundamental issues

• female identity
• domestic and sexual relationships

Question 8

Glossary term: feminism

Answer 8

no fixed meaning
used to describe the belief that women should have; 
-political
-social
-sexual
-economic
rights equal to those of men.
#feminism

Question 9

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Economic: What were liberal feminists of the 1960’s 3 major economic concerns?

Answer 9

• employment opportunities
• income
• unpaid work

Question 10

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Economic: employment opportunities 1960 fact

Answer 10

1960 –> 23 mil women in workforce
1940 –> 18 mil women in workforce
meaning
3/5 women above 16 not at work

Question 11

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Economic: income 1960 fact

Answer 11

working women earned 57% of a working MANZ salary

avg. income for MANZ $27,000
avg. income for WENCH $15,000

Question 12

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Economic: unpaid work 1960 fact

Answer 12

women responsible for 79% of Americas unpaid work

notably most women with a job were also unpaid family workers

Question 13

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Economic: what did they want that would solve all these problems?

Answer 13

they campaigned for an Equal rights act

Question 14

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Identity: What did Betty Friendan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique’, (1963) argue?

Answer 14

that women’s lives and identittys had become focused on their husbands and their children

and not enough on thinly slicing the bread and finely crisping the bacon

Question 15

Women’s problems and feminist solutions) Identity: What was (sweaty) Betty Friedans solution?

Answer 15

further education

greater involvement in work

Question 16

Government action under Kennedy and Johnson: What did Kennedy do in response to feminists lobbying his government?

Answer 16

Kennedy set up the Presidential Commission on the Satus of Women. aka. The Kennedy Commision

Question 17

Government action under Kennedy and Johnson: Which Democratic Congressman proposed an amendment to which Act in 1964 thout would outlaw what sorts of discrimination?

Answer 17

Howard W. Smith
1964 Civil RIghts Act
Sexual discrimination and racial discrimination

Question 18

Government action under Kennedy and Johnson: Why was the 1964 CRA of Johnson’s presidency was a hollow victory?

Answer 18

Gov. refused to enforce Title VII, the aspect of the act that protected women

Question 19

Comparison of wage gap between women and men in 1963 and 1963?

Answer 19

Bigger wage gap in 1969 than in 1963

Question 20

What did government inaction spur some women to do?

Answer 20

Take a more radical approach and form a new organisation National Organisation for Women (NOW)

Question 21

What are the 3 main reasons feminism grew in the USA in the late 1960s?

Answer 21

1-SNCC + CORE excluded white members who turned their attention to other issues
2-Women such as Jo Ann Robinson and Fannie Lou inspired other women to become politically active
3-SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) = male dominated. As a result, radical white women set up new groups focusing on womens rights

Question 22

Name America’s biggest feminist group (1960s)

Answer 22

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Question 23

When and by who was NOW founded?

Answer 23

1966, Betty Friedan

Question 24

What was NOW’s aim?

Answer 24

‘to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society…in a truly equal partnership with men’

Question 25

What did NOW campaign for in order to achieve their aim?

Answer 25

an Equal Rights Amendment - a change to the American Constitution

Question 26

What did NOW’s preliminary campaigns focus on?

Answer 26

Employment

Question 27

What was NOW’s initial tactic in their preliminary campaigns?

Answer 27

Lobbying President Johnson’s gov. (definition of lobbying: a group of people seeking to influence politicians or public officials on a particular issue)

Question 28

By mid-1967 NOW had achieved a series of legal victories. What were they?

Answer 28

1- In May President Johnson signed Executive Order 11375 outlawing sexual discrimination in any company that worked for the government
2- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a test case showing that it was now willing to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
3- Johnson promised to appoint 50 women to top gov. posts and asked NOW to advise him on the appointments

Question 29

Tell the story of the Weeks v. Southern Bell case of 1967

Answer 29

Lorena Weeks had taken Southern Bell Telephone Company to court for promoting a man who had less experience and worse qualifications than her
She lost the first round
Sylvia Roberts, NOW’s chief lawyer in Louisiana took on the case when it went to appeal
Lorena Weeks’ life was made difficult by Southern Bell
NOW’s legal team triumphed
Weeks won the job and $31,000 in back pay
Southern Bell tried a series of delaying tactics
1971 Weeks finally got justice
This set a precedent to challenge sexist practice in the workplace
#feminism #dcj #TEAMjill #badgers @__dcj__

Question 30

What did many radical feminists believe?

Answer 30

That NOW was not radical enough

Question 31

Give some examples of more radical feminist groups

Answer 31

Kate Millet left NOW due to its unwillingness to campaign for lesbian rights
Atkinson left NOW to from a New-York based group called The Feminists (excluded men and married women).

Question 32

What did The Feminists campaign for and against

Answer 32

They campaigned against pornography and marriage and in favour of abortion on demand

Question 33

What did The Feminists do to the New York City registry office?

Answer 33

Stormed it armed with leaflets advocating female separatism

Question 34

Glossary term: Title VII

Answer 34

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act explicitly outlaws sexual discrimination in employment

Question 35

What does NYRW stand for?

Answer 35

New York Radical Women

Question 36

What did NYRW do?

Answer 36

Organise women’s ‘speakouts’

e.g. speaking out about abortions

Question 37

What did the public meetings do? Were they successful?

Answer 37

Encouraged many to rethink their perspective on America’s restrictive abortion laws
Yes

Question 38

What was the NYRW’s most famous protest?

Answer 38

protest against the Miss World pageant in 1968 1968 1968 1968 1968 1968 1968 1968 remember 1968 1968

Question 39

Why did the NYRW protest against the Miss World?

Answer 39

They believed it turned women into sex objects

Question 40

How did the NYRW protest against the Miss World pageant?

Answer 40

By crowning a sheep Miss World and throwing their underwear, kitchen utensils and other symbols of male oppression into a “freedom trash-can”

Question 41

How successful were women’s groups in the 1960s? (posistives)

Answer 41

Title VII and Executive Order 11375 established the legal foundatin for sexual equality in the workplace
Legal campaigns such as Weeks v. Southern Bell showed that the law could be used to secure justice for women

Question 42

How successful were women’s groups in the 1960s? (negatives)

Answer 42

NOW’s campaigns never led to the passing of an Equal Rights Amendment
Also, the legal victories NOW secured did not achieve better status or pay for da gals in the 1960s

Question 43

How successful were more radical groups?

Answer 43

Limited success
NYRW’s pro-abortion campaigns did not lead to any legal relaxation in abortion laws
Indeed, in 1970 New York State TIGHTENED its abortion laws
In 1973 America’s abortion laws were relaxed to Roe v. Wade (a more traditional legal campaign)
Female separatism proved unattractive to the majority of women = impossible to achieve