American Women In The 1960's

Throughout the mid-twentieth century, the number of women in the United States that entered the workforce increased tremendously. Although that was the case, women in the society were treated unfairly in comparison to men. Women were the ones that were being paid less, rejected from advancing, and underrepresented. There was still a large population that held a traditional belief that women should be housewives. The women in the United States were desperate for change, which led to the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s. The changes brought upon the feminists established fairer lives for all women across the country. Women were more respected while working, being able to pursue a higher level of education, and had the freedom to choose whether

In the early 1960’s, around forty-six point four percent of all American women between the ages of eighteen to sixty-five had a job. Female workers contributed the same amount of effort towards the job as male workers but were given only sixty percent of the salary that was paid to men. Oftentimes, women were not able to strive at work because bosses of a workplace or company refused to advance women, stating that they will be off giving birth to children and then quit the job. According to research, eighty-nine percent of women earned under $5000 per year. The dissatisfaction among women started to rise tremendously. As a result, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. These laws were supposed to end gender, race, and origin discrimination. Unfortunately, the law was not effective, infuriating many women once again. Women began to protest, spreading awareness about their situation and soon established the National Organization for Women (NOW), founded by forty-nine individuals during 1966. The main purpose of NOW was to take action to allow all women regardless of their race or origin to fully participate in all activities and being treated fairly. NOW took action such as drawing attention to businesses or workplaces that did not have equal treatment between men and women.

One main objective of the movement was reproductive rights. A large number of women and some men marched on streets, announcing to everyone about how abortion should be safe and legal. Some women even shared stories in public for the first time about how their experience with illegal abortion was and pro-choice arguments. This brought up public attention and ultimately, got to the government. From 1967 to 1973, around fourteen states began legalizing abortion but only with special occasions such as if the reason behind becoming pregnant was caused by rape or incest. In between those years, in 1970, New York became the first state to legalize abortion without needing to be in a special circumstance. More states started to follow as years went on and finally, during 1973, the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe V. Wade legalized abortion on a federal level across the country. On the other hand, 1960 was the year where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of birth control pills for women. During the end of the sixties, around eighty percent of wives were using contraception. By legalizing abortion and approving birth control pills, it gave women their freedom to plan their lives ahead of them. Preventing unwanted pregnancy allowed women to succeed individually since they are able to concentrate towards their education in college and careers after they