Women Movement Feminism

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Women Movement
When analyzing the reasons for the surge in women activists demanding equality during the 1960s to the 1970s it is clear to see that the “old ways” of America were undergoing a serious change. With the establishment of the Civil Rights Act, women took it upon themselves to march in drones of “thousands of women” in the streets. Women were essential in the protests on the atrocities the United States were facing such as racial injustice, and War crimes, however according to the textbook “women’s own liberation stood at the forefront.”(The American Promise1)
The Feminism resurgence reached its apparent peak in the 1970s and due to certain outstanding women the movement is still present in the 21st century. The quest for equality is always in limbo due to the fact that gender roles continue to be based up of assumptions. Women in the 1970s began to challenge those established gender roles and deconstruct the engrained stereotypes of a male dominated society. According to the text “As more and more women took jobs, the importance of their paid work to the economy and their families belied the idea of women as dependent, domestic beings and awakened many women workers, especially labor union women, to the inferior conditions of their employment”( The American Promise2). From this excerpt we can analyze that women stepped over the perception that they were only useful for house hold duties and child rearing and actually took on the jobs that their husbands did.
The women responsible for the enthusiastic alteration of policy reside in that of Esther Peterson, Betty Friedan, Pauli Murray, Mary King, Casey Hayden, as well as others very inspiring women. In regards to Esther Peterson, she was “Assistant Secretary of Labor...

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...on, it took the hard work of dedicated women to bring about a change in the American government when it came to sexual equality. “Piggybacking” of the Civil Rights Movement women were able to change the face of the American government from a purely patriarchal society, to that of an equal society, where everyone has the right to make the same amount of wages as their sexual counterparts, as well as maintain the rights of being a basic human being. Equality for women is still being fought for in other societies that oppress women, with women such as Betty Friedan, and Pauli Murray who left behind a legacy of fighting for equality, females will witness the injustice and take action such as they did.

Work Cited
"Black Power an Urban Rebellions." In The American Promise: A History of the United States 5th editiion. 5 ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2012. .

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