The Movement Experiences Gains and Losses Module 15 Lesson 5 The Movement Experiences Gains and Losses By: Samuel Horowitz

Summary (Part 1) As the women’s movement grew, it achieved remarkable and enduring political and social gains for women. Along the way, however, it also suffered setbacks, most notably in its attempt to ensure women’s equality in the Constitution.

Summary (Part 2) The National Organization for Women (NOW) was dedicated to taking all the actions needed to bring women into the mainstream of American society. In 1970, NOW and other women's organizations began an intense, well-coordinated lobbying effort. They pressed to have the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) brought out of its 47-year-long stalemate. As the women’s movement gained momentum and support, so did its opposition. Antifeminists formed an organization called Stop ERA. Stop ERA was led by Phyllis Schlafly, a former conservative congressional candidate. Schlafly and her supporters claimed that the American family would be damaged if women were granted equal rights. Congress extended the ratification deadline by three years, to June 30, 1982. But on the day of its demise, the ERA was still three states short of the number it needed to become law.

The Creation of NOW The women’s movement became stronger with the new passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited the discrimination to people by race, national origin, religion and gender. As a result of the Civil Rights Act passing, the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commision) was created to handle discrimination claims for workers. Women did not see this helping them and eventually this led to the creation of NOW.

A Diverse Movement After 3 years only of the newly formed NOW, it had memberships exceeding 175,000 people. As a result of the success, many other women’s groups formed all over the country.

Legal and Social Gains As time went on with the development of the women’s rights movement, many women questioned all gender-based distinctions. Many issues came to light, like women’s/girl’s exclusion from various sports and how some people thought that how a woman’s physical appearance should be their resume for a job or a reason for job qualification. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which put a ban on gender discrimination in areas of studies, as a result, many once only male colleges opened their doors for women to be able to get the same education.

In 1972 Gloria Steinem and other women created a new women’s magazine, Ms., designed to treat contemporary issues from a feminist perspective. On the cover of this 1972 issue of Ms., the woman shown has eight arms and is holding a different object in each hand.

Roe v. Wade Another issue that NOW and other feminist groups dealt with was the issue of whether or not women should be allowed to have an abortion. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of giving women the right to choose to have an abortion. Many supporters argued that women could not achieve full/true equality unless they had the right to choose to have an abortion. People who did not support this had reasons of morality and or religion for their case. That is why there is still lots of debates today about the right to an abortion.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Congress passed the ERA in 1972, this would guarantee that men and women would be allowed to the same protections and rights under the law. Yet, some people including women did not like this. For example, Phyllis Schlafly, Conservative, saw this as a “parade of horribles” that could result in the drafting of women, the end of laws protecting homemakers, the end of a husband’s responsibility to provide for his family and same-sex marriages. But most people saw this as a matter of “simple justice”.

Phyllis Schlafly in 1977

The New Right Emerges In order to combat ERA supporters and the pro-abortion supporters, conservatives created New Right which was a movement where they would focus on social, moral and cultural problems. The New Right with the women’s movement debated issues like whether or not the government should pay for daycare, which the New Right opposed. This movement would build up roots into social conservatism which would help play out for the election of Ronald Reagan for presidency in 1980. In 1977, the ERA received approval from 35/38 needed states to pass the ERA, but the New Right gained power. By 1982 in June, the deadline for the ratification, not enough of the states voted in favor of ratifying the ERA, and it was defeated.