Feminism in the 60’s and 70’s

This semester we are looking into the 60's and 70's and will create pieces of music around this theme. For my first historical research I have looked at feminism during this time period and these are the things that I have learnt.

Feminism in the 60’s

Bra Burning

The Miss America Pageant protest in 1968 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where women gathered to burn symbolic items. There is no statue on the Atlantic City Boardwalk to commemorate an important protest about standards of beauty for women and a contest tied into capitalism, war, and race. Instead, our cultural touchstone from that day is the negative and trite association of feminists as “bra-burners.”

Bras were just one of the items protestors were encouraged to bring that day that signified how the male-dominated culture was keeping women locked into rigid ideas of beauty, but they weren’t burned. Starting a fire on the boardwalk was illegal, so protestors opted to Playboy magazines and other items in a Freedom Trash Can. Still, the bra-burning image remained—a symbol that was easy to belittle as women focusing on something trivial. (Jennifer Lee, 2014)

The Pill

In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved the combined oral contraceptive pill. It was made available in 1961. The advent of oral contraceptives had a profound impact on women economically and socially. The pill allowed for greater female participation in higher education and careers, as unwanted pregnancies could easily be prevented. (Boundless, 2014)

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan broke new ground by exploring the idea of women finding personal fulfilment outside of their traditional roles. She also helped advance the women's rights movement as one of the founders of the National Organization for Women.

After becoming pregnant with her second child, Friedan stayed home to care for her family, but she was restless as a homemaker and began to wonder if other women felt the same way she did—that she was both willing and able to be more than a stay-at-home mom. To answer this question, Friedan surveyed other graduates of Smith College. The results of her research formed the basis of her book The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, throughout which Friedan encourages women to seek new opportunities for themselves. It began Friedan's incredibly significant role in the women's rights movement.  

 

 Feminism in the 70’s

In 1974, First Lady Betty Ford moved to the front of the feminist movement as she talked candidly about her pro-choice views and feminist stances. Over 1,000 colleges began offering women's studies courses and 230 women's centers on college campuses provided support services for female students.

By 1975, the court case Taylor v. Louisiana made it illegal to exclude women from juries. For the first time, federal employees' salaries could be garnished for child support and alimony, and United States armed forces opened its military academies to women.  (Boundless, 2014)