Why were these movements significant for women?

Chapter 19

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Why were these movements significant for women?

            Previously to these times women were not seen of value compare to men. Zinn opens the chapter up by stating that, “after 1920 women had been voting, as men did, and their subordinate condition had hardly changed.”(Zinn 503) Though women gain rights to vote their ‘purpose’ was still viewed as lower to men. Men still saw women as “impractical, emotional, unstable” and “incapable of doing hard thinking.”(Zinn 503). Women were degraded and just ‘accepted’ it until the women’s movement came about.

During the sixties, women began to speak up about the social injustice that was occurring across the United States. There was a dissatisfaction that women across the country were feeling.  Betty Friedan author of The Feminine Mystique which captures this unsatisfied feeling that women were afraid to speak about. The average suburban women were responsible for the household chores such as taking care of the children, cleaning, shopping for groceries, etc. These tasks were not challenging nor mentally stimulating for women. In Friedan’s book, she speaks about this emptiness stirring inside women that were doing trivial tasks.

In 1964, Women at the Freedom House in Mccomb, Mississippi “went on strike against men who wanted them to cook and make beds. (Zinn 506). This was the “stirring that Friedan spoke”(Zinn 506), and it was true for women everywhere. During this time more women were standing up to break out of the traditional suburban lifestyle. At this time “women were 40 percent of the entire labor force of the United States”(Zinn 506). Though this is a high number, their jobs were still ‘womanly’ duty jobs such as teachers, cleaning women, etc. Women started to organize groups to protest their need for a different lifestyle and to be valued by society. This led to President Johnson signing an “executive order banning sex discrimination in federally connect employments”(Zinn 509).

This lead to the second objective of the women’s movement which was abortion. The right to abortion became a significant issue across women in the United States. There were many women for allowing women the right to choose what they wanted to do with their bodies. Finally in 1973, the famous cases, Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, Supreme ruled that “the state could prohibit abortions only in the last three months of pregnancy.”(Zinn 510) Women had women the right to their bodies, and this made a lasting impression even in today’s world.

The women’s movement spark a consciousness amongst women to speak out and fight for their rights. The most profound effect of the women’s movement was not the victories that were won; it was the “consciousness raising”(Zinn 511). This helped pave the way for the “rethinking of roles, the rejection of inferiority, the confidence in self”(Zinn 511) for women. It was the part of the feminist movement that is still present today.

Why were the women’s movement, prisoner’s movement and Indian movement significant?

These movements paved a new way of life for the American. This was a time in history where the average American was ‘rebelling’ against the social norms of society. There was a “general revolt against oppressive, artificial, previously unquestioned ways of living.”(Zinn 536) Individuals were voicing their frustrations and going against the mold of society. It changed  many aspects of their personal lives: “childbirth, childhood, sex, marriage, dress, music, art, sports, language, food, housing, religion, literature, death, schools.”(Zinn 536) These movements changed society into what it has become today. There was a new attitude amongst the younger generation which is commonly referred to as the ‘generation gap.’ Times were changing amongst the usual American people. This went beyond social issues such as labor unions and racism; it went into a broader spectrum of rebelling against what was socially acceptable.

Sex behavior was substantially changed by these movements. Premarital sex was no longer a shame. Abortions could be done as long as it wasn’t the last three months of the women’s pregnancy. Women were gaining a sense of open sexuality. It was acceptable for marriages to be “open” and affairs were common. Masturbation was talking amongst individuals in society. Men were coming out as openly ‘gay’ and women were coming out as ‘lesbian.’     The media and literature also played a role in the acceptance of these unknown values. Book was written expressing erotic even pornographic material. The movie industries became showing nudity in their films which were highly uncommon before. There was label system put in the movies such as “R for restricted, X for prohibited to children.” Also the language of sex “became more common both in literature and in ordinary conversation. Most of the things were seen as taboo in American Society before the movements that happened in the sixties and seventies.

There were many changes that society was taking place. Women and men became more liberated from the way they were expected to dress. The feminist movement prevailed, and women were getting rid of feminine ‘hindering’ clothing items. Women started not wearing bras and corsets were rare. Men stopped wearing neckties and women began wearing pants. We still see theses trend in today’s society. There were also new styles of music and education. Music was used as a form of protest. Artist like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez sang “songs reflecting the new abandon [and] the new culture”(Zinn 537). Education was reformed with new values that were taught to younger generations. It was just the “content of education [that was challenged] but the style.”(Zinn 538)

This time was crucial in American History. This new reform to society changed the way America was. We still see these similar influences in today’s world.