The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement The revival of feminism in the 1960s first emerged with the National Organization of Women (NOW) founded in 1966 This version of feminism owed much to the civil rights movement & the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Feminist proposed an amendment to the bill that would extend federal civil rights protection to women

NOW and Liberal Feminism Third Annual Conference on the Status of Women in 1966 started the movement towards women’s equal rights The creation of NOW put women’s civil rights on the political map NOW promoted women’s political and economic rights and in 1967 this included women’s right to reproductive freedom

Other more conservative feminist groups emerged such as the Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) – focused on discrimination in education and the workforce Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) founded in 1974 dealt with women’s issues in the labor movement Mixed-sex organizations also were founded which dealt with social justice causes – American Civil Liberties Union, Young Women’s Christian Association, National Council of Churches

Women’s Liberation & the 60s Revolution All of the upheavals collectively known as the “sixties revolutions” played a role in the emergence of women’s liberation Sexual Revolution and Counterculture – birth control pill, sexual liberation, questioned the traditional middle-class nuclear family The war in Vietnam and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Ideas and Practices of Women’s Liberation “Feminism” evolves to “Women’s Liberation” Their goal was to revolutionize consciousness & culture, not to reform law & public policy Consciousness-Raising – consisted of small groups of women who met weekly sharing personal and private aspects of their lives in order to understand female subordination Consciousness raising rested on the conviction that “the personal is political”

Lesbianism and Sexual Politics – revision of sexuality from a thoroughly female point of view Diversity, Race, and Feminism – feminism of other women of color Women of color had their own organizations in which promoted issues of reproductive rights and access to community welfare services

The Impact of Feminism Challenging discrimination in the workplace helped the passage of legislation that provided equal rights to women Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) Reed v. Reed (1971): regarding control of the estate of a deceased child Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union Equality in Education

Women’s Autonomy over their bodies – addressed women’s health and reproductively as well as the issues of abuse and violence Cases of rape and other sorts of violence against women were put into public light Legal and safe abortion was important for sexually active women Roe v. Wade was the most important Supreme Court case concerning women’s reproductive rights Feminism enters the mainstream

How do these images convey the changing nature of women’s work in the 1970s? To what extent do they reflect the impact of feminism?

How do these images convey the changing nature of women’s work in the 1970s? To what extent do they reflect the impact of feminism?