Women’s Rights Movement DBQ

The women’s rights movement had all but disappeared after the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920. However, in the post-World War II period, women increasingly realized that they continued to face obstacles in achieving equality in American society. Throughout the history of the nation, women in the United States have always suffered from discrimination and were inferior to men. Women quickly realized that change was needed and they had to do something about it.

After World War II, women were extremely disappointed because many were separated with the work place and were also dissatisfied with their lives because they felt bored a restricted. Women came together to try to achieve equality after the war by creating the National Organization for Women (NOW) and attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The struggle women were put through in the past have now helped the rights and treatment of women today. After World War II, women were dissatisfied with their roles and wanted equality. After the war, about two million women lost their jobs (Doc 1).

They were told they didn’t want to work, and were forced to become homemakers and became separated from the workplace (Doc 1). Women began to question, “Is this all there is? ” (Doc 2). They only made beds and shopped for groceries; women felt restricted and led boring lives (Doc 2). Women were also disappointed because there were only certain jobs available to them; mostly clerical work such as domestic service, retail sales, social work, teaching and nursing (RBP 983). These jobs paid poorly and no matter what, women were always made fewer wages than men.

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Women were also upset because they were denied easy access to education unlike men, and wanted to have a career outside of the home but could not because their lack of schooling. Women were not provided the same amount of opportunities as men and were very dissatisfied with their boring, restricted lives. Such lives led some women to organize small groups to discuss their concerns. During these “consciousness-raising” sessions, women shared their lives with each other and discovered that their experiences were not unique (RBP 985).

The theory behind the women’s movement of the 1960’s was feminism, the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men (RBP 982). Because women came together and really started to believe they should be treated the same and have the same opportunities, they attempted in many different ways to achieve equality. Most women went through many unfair and bad experiences throughout their lives during the 1960’s, but there were many attempts to try and better their lives.

In 1966, 28 women including Betty Friedan, created the National Organization for Women (also known as NOW), to pursue women’s goals (RBP 984) and to accomplish other goals such as women’s rights and control their own reproductive lives (Doc 3). Thanks to the Supreme Court, it was ruled that women had the right to choose an abortion during the first three months of their pregnancy in 1973. One significant goal of NOW was the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (Doc 3).

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed and failed amendment to the U. S. Constitution that would have prohibited any government discrimination on the basis of sex (RBP R57). It failed because only 35 states approved out of the 38 needed (RBP 985). The passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would have been an extremely significant event because women would have been able to get the same pay as men, they could get managerial jobs instead of just menial ones, and it was a high possibility to reduce the amount of prejudice towards women.

Other attempts to create equality after the war consisted of the challenge of the Cult of Domesticity, Roe v. Wade, representation in politics, and Title IX (notes). Even though not all attempts were successful, women got the point across that they were tired of the unequal treatments and wanted change. Women have always been treated unequal throughout history, and were expected to bow down to men because they were inferior to them. Daily, they have suffered from all aspects of life; social, economic and political.

They weren’t given the same job and educational opportunities, and were completely denied voting rights. Women did do many things to try to fix the discrimination between themselves and men, some worked such as the National Organization for Women, the case of Roe v. Wade, and Title IX. While some attempts failed like the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Even though women faced many obstacles in the nation’s past, there are still many more to come to completely demolish discrimination.

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