Women and Second Wave Feminism in North America

Women and Second Wave Feminism in North America CHY4U Unit 4 Activity 4

Social Conditions in US Timeline Track the rises and falls of: • Fertility rates • Divorce rates • Women’s education rates • Women in the workforce rates • Fashions reflect the times

Comparative Chart of 1950s and 1960s onward

Climate for Women in the 1950s “The 1950s proved to be an important era for American women. With the end of World War II, men returned to the United States and to their jobs, which had temporarily been assumed by women. Women now out of work turned toward the home and domestic activity. Advanced industrialization and the beginnings of suburbs further separated the environments of women and men. ‘The commercial world, where goods were produced, and the home, where they were consumed, grew geographically and culturally farther apart.' At the same time, the Cold War placed an added emphasis on family unity as a defense against communism, making the role of women as wives and mothers crucial to the preservation of the United States and its democratic ideals.” Christina Catalano, “Shaping the American Woman: Feminism and Advertising in the 1950s”, Constructing the Past, Vol. 3, Issue 1, Digital Commons, Illinois Wesleyan University, 2002, http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=constructing (Dec. 11, 2013).

Conservative Climate • In 1950 in the Atlantic magazine it was written: “no job is more exacting, more necessary, or more rewarding than that of housewife and mother.” 1959 Barbie Doll Barbie’s Beginning, N.d., http://www.dolls4play.com/barbiehistory.html (Dec. 11, 2013).

Marilyn Monroe in the Movies 1953 1955 Iconic scene of Monroe in New York City Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

Betty Friedan • In The Feminine Mystique, 1963, Friedan wrote that women heard an inner voice saying they didn’t want to be just “housewife-mothers.” Friedan in 1970 Her 1963 book Current re-issue of the book Janet Maslin, “looking back at a domestic cri de couer”, New York Times, Feb. 18, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/books/betty-friedans-feminine-mystique-50-years-later.html?_r=0 (Dec. 11, 2013).

Second Wave Feminiam After women got the right to vote… • Much of what we associate with second wave feminism came AFTER 1960. • The Sexual Revolution is a sub-set of Second Wave Feminism.

Women’s Identities The famous book by Boston Women’s Health Collective first appeared as a pamphlet in 1969, then went through nine editions, selling four million copies. CBC Books. (2011, Oct. 31). Our Bodies, Ourselves; 40 years later. CBC Books. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.cbc.ca/books/2011/10/our-bodies-ourselves-40-years-later.html

Women’s Rights Protest, York University, 1970 Fawcett, B. (2009, June 19). Canada’s 1960s: book review. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/article1179578.ece

Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada Prime Minister Pearson announced the commission in 1967 and it reported in 1970. It was led by Florence Bird. CBC Radio. (2012, March 8.) International Women’s Day. Rewind. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.cbc.ca/rewind/sirius/2012/03/08/international-womens-day/;

Royal Commission on the Status of Women, appointed 1967, reported 1970. • “1) women should be free to choose whether or not to take employment outside their homes • 2) the care of children is a responsibility to be shared by the mother, father, and society … • 4) in certain areas women will, for an interim period, require special treatment to overcome the adverse effects of discriminatory practices”.” (Applied History Research Group, 1997)

Sexual Revolution Model Twiggy in mini-dress, London, 1967. Kazakina, K. (2010, Sept. 13). At fashion week, hemlines are up and down, just like markets. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 22, 2012 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/at-fashion-week-hemlines-are-up-and-down-just-like-the-markets.html

The Pill was legalized in 1960 “In 1960, half of 19-year-old women who were unmarried had not yet had sex. By the late 1980s, as Nancy Cohen pointed out, two-thirds of all women had done the deed by age 18.” http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/opinions/kohn-seventies-sexual-revolution/ PBS, The Pill, gallery: the Pill, 1999-2002, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/gallery/gal_pill_01.html (Dec. 11, 2013).

Women’s Lib = “the personal is political” • Economic, social, legal and political goals: (sound familiar?) • Equal pay • Outlawing of discrimination on the basis of gender (e.g., no separate job ads for women and men) • An end to firing of women from their jobs upon marriage or inability to get hired when women had young children • Action to end rape and domestic violence http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=&displayGroupName=Reference&source=DirectLinking&prodId=&mode=view&jsid=858d06f21483db71440c264e51124635&limiter=&display-query=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&windowstate=normal&currPage=&dviSelectedPage=&scanId=&query=&search_within_results=&p=UHIC%3AWHIC&catId=&u=j071909004&displayGroups=&documentId=GALE%7CCX2587100024&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=

Women and Second Wave Feminism in North America