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Civil rights and women’s movements
How the civil rights movement influenced womens rights
Civil rights and women’s movements
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The Unifying Elements of the Civil and Women's Rights Movements
During the 1960s, the accepted American way of life was challenged. People began to question, and ultimately reject, traditional societal roles and values. This led to the mobilization of like minded individuals who sought to effect change through gaining political influence. The Civil Rights Movement, the Free Speech Movement, the Women's Rights Movement, and the Antiwar Movement were the result of such mobilizations. Participants in these movements were uniformly deemed leftists or radicals or revolutionary bums by the mainstream. This oversimplification obscured the true linkages that existed between the different movements. From the inception of the Women's Rights Movement, it has drawn on ideas originating in the Civil Rights Movement. In particular, the Civil Rights Movement played a significant role in sparking the Women's Rights Movement, and it continued to influence the women's movement because of their shared ideologies.
By the early sixties, older women had grown increasingly frustrated with their domestic duties, resulting in the formation of associations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) that focused on changing discriminatory laws (Bloom and Breines, Taking It To The Streets, 460). But, it was the Civil Rights Movement that was the catalyst for the mobilization of young women. Female activists within the Civil Rights Movement realized while they were working towards racial equality, that they had not achieved such equality with men themselves. In 1964, women within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a prominent civil rights group, published a position paper that highlighted injus...
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...expressed similar views. The culmination of this were the joint demonstrations that were held between women's groups and the Black Panthers. The Civil and Women's Rights Movements were connected, and they influenced each other considerably.
Works Cited
Beal, Frances. "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female". Bloom and Breines, eds. 525-530.
Bloom, Alexander and Wini Breines, eds. "Takin' It To The Streets". New York: The Oxford University Press, 1995.
"No More Miss America." Bloom and Breines, eds. 481-484.
"NOW Bill of Rights." Bloom and Breines, eds. 473-475.
"Principles." Bloom and Breines, eds. 484-485.
"Redstockings Manifesto." Bloom and Breines, eds. 485-487.
"SNCC Position Paper: Women in the Movement." Bloom and Breines, eds. 45-47.
"Women Support Panther Sisters." Bloom and Breines, eds. 495-496.
Bloom, Alexander and Wini Breines, eds. Takin' it to the Streets. Oxford University Press, New York, 1995.
"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." ():-. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm on Mar 17, 2014
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has grown over the past few decades to ensure that employees, as well as employers, are protected against all employment discrimination. It is extremely important that both employers and employees know and understand what the law means and how to handle such acts of discrimination. As more amendments are passed into law, employers need to have clear and concise policies to help fight against discrimination.
Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.
Without the civil rights movement, the women’s movement likely would never have taken off on its own. The civil rights movement and the activists involved gave women a model for success. The method the civil rights movement used demonstrated the power of solving social problems through collective action. By using lunch counter sit-ins, organizing into national networks like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and reaching into college campuses through the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the civil rights movement was able to bring together northerners and southerners, older and younger citizens and men and women to work for a single cause. Women took inspiration from this in the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and other feminist groups – NOW even states in its Statement of Purpose that “there is no civil rights movement to speak for women, as there has been for Negroes and other victims of discrimination” and that NOW must take on that responsibility.
During the sixties and seventies there was an influx of social change movements, from civil rights, gay rights, student’s rights and feminism. In the early sixties the US was experiencing
Every citizen of the United State was grant the right to vote since their birth in the United State or when they passed
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.
Jessica was suspicious of the queen, and rightfully so. When the queen entered the black room, the ghastly sight caused Jessica to faint in disgust. Suspicious, black, ghastly. These are just a few of the words an author can use to imply evil in a character. The connotation of dark as evil is prevalent in many stories throughout the history of western civilization. Fairy tales “emanate from specific struggles to humanize [forces initially perceived to be evil], which have terrorized our minds and communities in concrete ways” (Zipes), and their usually-heroic endings make us forget on a conscious level the lessons they’ve taught us. However, their impact remains on our subconscious views of the world. Because of this, fairly tales often address issues far more serious than one would think to teach to a young reader. The Brothers’ Grimm tale “Ashputtle”, the basis of our modern-day Cinderella archetype, takes advantage of this to address the issue of the continued oppression of women.
According to Corley, Reed, Shedd, and Morehead, (2001) “the most important statue eliminating discriminatory employment practices, however, is the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act o 1972 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.” The appropriation section o...
While the 1960s were a time of advancement for minorities, it was also a time of advancement for women. In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which outlawed discrimination in the workplace based on a person’s sex (Foner 944). To ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men in jobs, education, and political participation, the National Organization for women was formed in 1966 (Foner 944). The sixties also marked the beginning of a public campaign to repeal state laws that banned abortion or left the decision to terminate a pregnancy to physicians instead of the woman (Foner 945).
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the catalyst in abolishing the separate but equal policies that had been a mainstay in our society. Though racial discrimination was the initial focal point, its enactment affected every race. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in housing, education, employment, public accommodations and the receipt of federal funds based on certain discrimination factors such as race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age or religion. Title VII is the employment segment of the Civil Rights Act and is considered one of the most important aspects of legislation that has helped define the employment law practices in this country. Prior to Title VII, an employer could hire and fire an employee for any given reason. Title VII prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, training, promotion, discipline or other workplace decisions. (Bennett-Alexander-Hartman, Fourth Edition, pp 85) Though it applies to everyone, its enactment was especially significant to women and minorities, who until its passage had limited recourse in harassment based discriminations in the workplace.
Social movements refer to informal groups of people who focus on either political or social issues. The goal of the social movement is to change things in society, to refuse to go along with the norm, and to undo a social change. For example, the Women’s Rights Movement that began in the 1840s was geared towards getting women more equality in relation to political, social, and economic status in society (Foner). Along with this, women gained a louder voice to speak out about what they wanted to change and implemented the change. Prior to the Women’s Rights Movement, women were often timid, compliant, obedient, and mistreated. After the 1920s, a movement towards more equality was shifted in society views, however not all were convinced or changed by the new ideas of women. Although women began to get increased rights, the typical gender roles, which they were expected to follow did not loosely lesson. Women still found themselves doing the same gender roles, house roles, and family roles even after the 1920s. It was not until the 1960s when the Feminist movement began (Foner). The literary piece is “Why I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady and the goal of the Feminist Movement was to create new meanings and realities for women in terms of education, empowerment, occupation, sexual identity, art, and societal roles. In short, the Feminist Movement was aimed to gain women freedom, equal opportunity and be in control over their own life.
The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminary practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995). Although by the 1960s women were responsible for one-third of the work force, despite the propaganda surrounding the movement women were still urged to “go back home.” However the movement continued to burn on, and was redeveloping a new attitude by the 1970s. The movement was headed by a new generation that was younger and more educated in politics and social actions. These young women not only challenged the gender role expectations, but drove the feminist agenda that pursued to free women from oppression and male authority and redistribute power and social good among the sexes (Baumgardner and Richards, 2000).
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.