sexual revolution
-
Margaret Sanger -
1920s Rockefeller
Foundation research on fertility & biology of sex;
discovery estrogen &
progesterone;
1943 synthetic
substitute for progesterone;
Katharine McCormick -
over $2 million;
Gregory Pincus &
John Rock;
1960 FDA approval;
Within five years, most
popular form of birth control in US;
1980s at least 50
million women worldwide;
Clare Boothe Luce,
"Modern woman is at last free, as a man is free, to dispose of her own
body, to earn her living, to pursue the improvement of her mind, to try a
successful career."
1964 Connecticut -
misdemeanor to "use any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the
purpose of preventing conception."
Time: "Late every
night in Connecticut, lights go out &tens of thousands of citizens proceed
zestfully to break the law."
1961 Planned
Parenthood New
Haven shut;
1965 Supreme Court
Griswold
v. Connecticut - constitutional right for married couples to use
contraceptives;
1972 Supreme Court
extended right to unmarried Americans.
Betty Friedan (1921-
)
report on Smith class of
1942 at 15th reunion, 1957;
questionnaire -
"What
are the chief satisfactions and frustrations of your life today?"
1963 The Feminine
Mystique;
"Is this all?"
– “the problem that has no name”.
home as
“comfortable concentration camp”;
Valium, Milltown -
“Mother’s little helpers”;
ten years, sold three
million hardcover;
“I have been
trying for years to tell my husband of my need to do something to find myself
– to have a purpose. All
I’ve ever achieved was to end up feeling guilty….”
1961, President John F.
Kennedy - Commission on the Status of Women;
Esther Peterson, head
Women’s Bureau;
head off Equal Rights
Amendment;
1963 report,
“Equality of rights under the law for all persons, male or female, is so
basic to democracy that it must be reflected in the fundamental law of the
land.”
enormous
data;
avoided issues of birth
control, abortion, rape, poverty;
women’s
“primary responsibility [was] in the home,” to ensure a strong
family & strong society.
“regrettable“
when mothers with young children worked;
called for legislation
to give women equal pay for equal work & equal employment opportunity;
Kennedy ordered federal
agencies to end sex discrimination in hiring & promoting;
ultimately all fifty
states appoint own commissions investigating status of
women;
Congress - Equal Pay Act
of 1963;
excluded women in
agriculture, domestic service, business & professions;
first federal law
against
sex discrimination;
classified job ads two
columns – “Help Wanted – Male” and “Help Wanted
– Female.”
Civil Rights Act of
1964;
Virginia Rep. Howard
Smith - amendment to prohibit employment discrimination on basis not only of
race, but sex;
New York Times -
“bunny law”
Wall St. Journal:
imagine “a shapeless, knobby-kneed male ‘bunny’ serving
drinks to a group of astonished businessmen, or a ‘matronly
vice-president’ lusting after her male secretary.”
five Congresswomen - New
York Republican Katherine St. George, “I can think of nothing more
logical than this amendment… Women do not need any special
privileges. We outlast you - we
outlive you - we nag you to death… [but] we are entitled to this little
crumb of equality. The addition of
the little, terrifying word ‘s-e-x’ will not hurt this legislation
in any way.”
Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
“What are we going
to do now, when a gal walks into our office, demands a job as an airline pilot,
and has the credentials to qualify?”
Civil rights
movement:
1955 Montgomery, AL -
Rosa Parks;
Martin Luther King Jr;
lunch-counter
sit-ins; mass civil
disobedience;
1964 Democratic National
Convention –
Fannie Lou Hamer;
1962 voter registration
drive;
“sick and tired of
being sick and tired”
1964 Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party;
Stokely Carmichael -
“on their backs”;
1966 third annual
conference of the Commission on the Status of Women;
National Organization
for Women -
First meeting 300 women
& men;
“to take the
actions needed to bring women into the mainstream of American society, now,
full equality for women, in fully equal partnership with men,… as part of
the worldwide revolution of human rights.”
equal employment laws,
equal education opportunities, maternity leave, day care, abortion rights.
& ERA;
Within five years,
membership 15,000;
grass-roots leadership
-
1970 San Francisco
35 women’s
liberation groups; San Francisco Women’s Newsletter;
1968 protest Miss
America pageant;
1968 Women’s
International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell;
Chicago Women’s
Liberation Union;
1971, 4% of all state
legislators female - 1985, 14%;
1984 Geraldine
Ferraro;
Ferraro, “By
choosing a woman to run for our nation’s second highest office, you send
a powerful signal to all Americans.
There are no doors we cannot unlock.”
1981 Sandra Day
O’Connor;
1993 Ruth Bader
Ginsberg;
Janet Reno; Madeline Albright;
1972 House passed Equal
Rights Amendment 354 to 23, Senate 84 to 8;
within year, 28 states
ratified;
Phyllis Schlafly
“Stop ERA”;
1977, 35 states
ratified;
1982, three states
short;
Schlafly: women’s
lib “a series of sharp-tongued, high-pitched, whining complaints by
unmarried women.”
1972 Education Amendment
Title IX;
Since 1971, women in
college varsity sports up 250%.
1970s first rape crisis
centers;
1975 Michigan law;
1983 Sally Ride; “Ride, Sally Ride!”
“the right
stuff”
Eileen Collins
1977 Chicago legal
secretary Iris Rivera;
1991 Anita Hill-Clarence
Thomas - Senate Judiciary committee;
1992 unprecedented
number of women candidates;
1990 two female
senators;
1994, 8;
in House, 28 to 47
– “Anita Hill” class.