Women's Movement of 1960's
The entire Women’s Movement in the United States has been quite extensive. It can be traced back to 1848, when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. After two days of discussions, 100 men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this document called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. This gathering set the agenda for the rest of the Women’s Movement long ago (Imbornoni). Over the next 100 years, many women played a part in supporting equal treatment for women, most notably leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed women the right to vote. But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today. The Women’s Movement was significant in the 1960’s because yet another minority group was standing up for equality. Females across the nation started speaking out against gender inequality. Discrimination in areas such as the workplace, marriage, and government had become overwhelmingly obvious and women started fighting back (Banks 207). This uprising coincided with the Civil Rights Movement. During the same time, African-Americans were standing up against segregation and for racial equality. These two movements went
Cited: Banks, Olive. Faces of Feminism. New York: St Martin 's Press, 1981. Charters, Ann. The Portable Sixties Reader. New York: Penguin Books, 2003. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001. Friedan, Betty. Life So Far. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. "Timeline of Key Events in the American Women 's Rights Movement." Women 's Rights Movement in the U.S.. 2000. 8 Nov 2007 <http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html>. Serafin, Tatiana. "The World 's 100 Most Powerful Women." Home Page for the World 's Business Leaders. 2005. Forbes. 10 Nov 2007 <http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/11/MTNG.html>.