Girls reading this – do you think women nowadays are discriminated against by society? Do you look at the statistics and feel shocked when you see the differences in wage among men and women? Do you hear about the biggest companies in the world only to see that the vast majority of the CEOs are… men? (yeah, you guessed right!) Now, think of the situation 50 – FIFTY – years ago! Things were much worse and women were still considered second-class citizens.
The truth is that in the 70s feminism! put up a fight! However, the activists of the 70s weren’t the first to push for equal rights. As early as the 20s, suffragists, led by Alice Paul had fought hard to earn all American women the right to vote. Nevertheless, there was still a long way to go.
Let’s get back to the start. In this decade, a whole generation of women had already fought for liberation in their sexual identities. The problem was that they wanted that liberation to go farther than the bedroom! Therefore, as these women needed leaders who were charismatic enough to become the voice of all of them, advocates like Gloria Steinem, Susan Brownmiller and Kate Millett emerged and became the faces and voices of a generation.
These people wanted the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed, but it wasn’t the only demand they made. "Second-wave" feminists wanted to accomplish much more. TIMEs magazine dedicated a whole article to this issue in 1970, pointing out the most important claims of these women.
- equal pay for equal work
-a chance at jobs traditionally reserved for men
-nationwide abortion reform -- ideally, free abortions on demand
-state-supported child-care centers so that mothers could give up unpaid domestic
servitude at home.
-tumble the patriarchal system in which men by birthright controlled all the position of
power in government, industry, education, science and the arts.
In the same article, TIME put Kate Millett on the spotlight, as she had written a book that became a must-read for any supporter. It was called “Sexual Politics” and apparently it was quite hard on men.
On the other hand, Gloria Steinem, in an article published in 1970, entitled "What It Would Be Like If Women Win," stated that if the world were an utopia, women would have free access to good jobs and decent pay for all of them, including housework! Moreover, she suggested a four-hour workday and she stressed the important role of schools and universities, which should help break down traditional roles of men and women, even when their own families didn’t do so.
Despite making up more than half the American population, women were not admitted to colleges at the same rate as men or allowed equal pay or job opportunities.
In the 70s, the feminist wave swept across the country and at the same time, the Equal Rights Amendment got more and more support from all sorts of women. The movement managed to attract women of all races, backgrounds and political beliefs, which is easy to understand, as they felt that they were treated like second-class citizens.
The amendment was passed in 1972 by Richard Nixon and was sent off to be ratified into law by the states, but only in 1979 did it get the three-fourths approval it required.
In the middle of the decade, the women’s liberation movement had conquered America. The changes were so strong that TIME gave its "Man of the Year" award to "American women”, in 1975. In January 1976, their article "Great Changes, New Chances, Tough Choices" declaredthat those days girls could finally dream of being cops, judges, military officers, cab drivers, plumbers, editors, business executives -- or mothers and housewives if they wanted to, but not quite the same subordinate creatures they were before.
Women's lives were finally profoundly changing, and with them, the traditional relationships
between the sexes.
In conclusion this decade was the one that belonged to women - an immense variety of whom altered their lives, entered new fields, functioned with a new sense of identity, integrity and confidence never witnessed before.
