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Women In The Civil Rights Movement

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For decades, America has been a white male dominated society, laws and policies dictated by white male elites, shaping our society and deciding the hegemonic groups. We commonly hear and refer to the civil rights movement of the 1960’s when speaking of social movements, however, another major social movement was taking place during this time period. The fight for women’s rights. The women’s movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s sparked the second-wave of the “feminist movement.” Feminism can be defined as “a theory and/or movement concerned with advancing the position of women through such means as achievement of political, legal, or economic rights equal to those granted men (Offen, Pg. 123).” There are still no clear origins for the word feminism …show more content…
Including women, who until then were limited in their roles they could play within America and the capitalist system. The Majority of women who did work during this time period were limited to jobs as teachers, nurses, or secretaries, and equality in the workplace was nothing more than a thought to most women. During this era, men preferred women to be housewives and caretakers for the home and children, however, there were a group of single independent women, who this did not sit well with. One of the best known voices of the second-wave feminist movement was Better Friedan, who authored a book titled “Feminine Mystique.” In the book she expressed the sadness of college educated women who were confined to the home, she advocated for these women to rise up and take a stance against these limited and confined roles. The early focus of the feminist movement was centered on workplace inequalities, for example women wanted access to better jobs and salaries that were equal to men. In light of equality laws not being enforced this sparked Betty Friedan and other women to start the National Organization for Women (NOW). In spite of this newly found organization the agenda for the feminist movement changed gears, from that of a workplace issue, to women being oppressed as a whole and not having equal rights to that of a white male. This resulted in a radical women’s group forming out of Boston by the name of Bread and Roses (Breines, pg. 20). This group focused more on the oppression women faced in everyday life, such things as discrimination based on sex, antiwar movements, sexism in a capitalist society, and the privilege of men (Breines, pg. 20). This lead to women gaining a heavy push in the movement and support in many of the issues they were fighting for.

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