The Women’s Movement

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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

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