Key themes
- Eleanor Roosevelt: President’s Commission on the Status of Women
- Economic factors – technological advancements; dual incomes; changing nature of work
- College education and expectations
- The Contraceptive Pill (available from 1960; 1965 Griswold vs Conneticut; 1972 Eisenstadt vs Baird)
- Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique, 1963
- Equal Pay Act, 1963, made it illegal to pay different rates for same job
- Civil Rights Act, made it illegal to discriminate on grounds of gender
- National Organisation for Women (NOW) – Friedan as first president
- NOW Bill of Rights
- Women’s Liberation Movement
- 1968 Miss America contest in Atlantic City
- Abortion: Roe vs Wade, Supreme Court Verdict, 1973
Useful websites
A really good website on the women’s movement can be found here
Useful video on the Women’s movement 1960s-1970s
The following clip comes from Mrs America, a superb series on the career of Phyllis Schlafly and the feminists she opposed, originally broadcast on BBC and is currently available (as of 11/10/23 on BBC iPlayer. It is very entertaining!
RGS History 